Top 30 Books This Week

by Emer McLysaght & Sarah Breen

€16.99

They said they’d never let a man get in the way of their friendship... Laura and Dee haven’t spoken since the day they buried a body together. It was supposed to be the best summer of their lives. A break from university, from parents, from wasting their time on Irish boys with farmer’s tans. They’d imagined flirting with Ryan Phillippe on a New York rooftop. Instead, with summer jobs waitressing at a country club on Long Island, pickings are slim. Mikey is a bully. Marco is off limits. Jose is angry. Mr Haight is a sleaze. Josh is too keen. And Other Josh… he’s something else entirely. It’s a miracle only one of them ends up dead. Dee is pretty sure she didn’t mean to kill him. Laura, to her credit, never asked. Not until she sends an email, out of the blue, more than twenty years later. It’s finally time to mend the biggest heartbreak of that summer; Laura wants her best friend back. A hilarious and heartfelt story about friendship, young women and bad men. Sarah Breen and Emer McLysaght bring their trademark Aisling humour in this completely new direction. Noughties nostalgia and a dead body, it’s the novel you didn’t know you needed. Ideal for Readers Who… Loved the Aisling series — Our Deadly Summer is McLysaght and Breen's first novel outside the Aisling universe, and while the tone is darker and the setting is New York rather than Ballygobbard, the warmth, wit, and fierce female friendship that made Aisling a national treasure are entirely intact. Enjoy darkly comic Irish fiction with real emotional stakes — this isn't a cosy mystery. It's funny in the way that only Irish writers can be funny about serious things: sharply, affectionately, and with a body count. Feel a complicated nostalgia for the early noughties — dial-up internet, flip phones, impossibly low-cut jeans, and the particular madness of an Irish J1 summer in America. If you wore a velour tracksuit unironically, this book is for you. Love Marian Keyes, Holly Bourne, or Monica Heisey — fans of Really Good, Actually and So Happy for You will find the same blend of comedy and emotional honesty here, grounded in the specific texture of Irish women's lives. Are drawn to stories where female friendship is the beating heart — Laura and Dee's relationship is the real mystery at the centre of the novel. How two best friends end up standing over a body together, and what that does to them, is the story Our Deadly Summer is actually telling. Want a thriller that moves — set across Dublin, Long Island, and New York, with a plot that opens on a buried body and never fully lets you breathe, this is the rare book that earns its "unputdownable" without having to say it on the cover.

by Andrea Mara

€14.99

‘The thing is, we always believe the best of our own kids. What mother thinks her own daughter will do something terrible? But every bad deed is carried out by a person who was once someone’s child.’ Get ready for your new obsession – it will make you question everything. Pre-order the gripping new thriller from the No.1 Sunday Times bestseller Andrea Mara. Everyone has secrets. Even your daughter… The morning after a glamorous, luxury wedding, you and your best friend go to wake your twenty-four-year-old daughters. You open the door to their shared room in the pool-house and find a lamp smashed on the floor, a blood stain on the carpet, a ringing phone – and both girls are nowhere to be seen. The police come and you discover something shocking. Something inexplicable. Is one of your daughters trying to kill the other? And that’s when you and your best friend begin to unravel what's really going on between the girls. You need to work together to find your daughters, testing your friendship to its limits. And you can’t help but wonder: which girl is the killer and which is the victim? Ideal for readers who: Want a domestic thriller that begins with missing daughters after a luxury wedding. Enjoy parent-nightmare plots where friendship, fear and suspicion collide. Like twisty Irish suspense built around the question of victim versus killer. Appreciate thrillers that make family loyalty feel unstable from page one.

by John Connolly

€16.99

The players call it the Game, and its aim is simple: to abduct and kill a stranger without getting caught. They're very good at it. They've been playing it for a long time. And they can keep playing so long as everyone stick to the rules: No Killing Close to Home and No Killing Outside the Game. But those rules have been broken. When the drowned body of a troubled teenager is recovered from a river in Maine's Kennebec Valley, and a young woman disappears from a small rural town, they draw the attention of the private investigator named Charlie Parker. Now Parker will be forced to confront a band of men without morality and without loyalty, not even to one another, in a place where the very darkness is alive. Because something has emerged from the shadows, something very bad. And it wants revenge. Ideal for readers who: Follow Charlie Parker and want another dark Maine investigation with a supernatural edge. Enjoy crime fiction built around ritualised murder, broken rules and moral rot. Like private investigators facing villains who feel almost mythic in their cruelty. Appreciate thrillers where darkness is both literal atmosphere and spiritual threat.

by Caro Claire Burke

€15.99

'My name is Natalie Heller Mills, and I was perfect at being alive…' Natalie lives a traditional lifestyle - and has the social media accounts to prove it. Her charming farmhouse on her working ranch is artfully cluttered, her husband is a handsome cowboy, her homemade sourdough boules are each more beautiful than the last. So what if there are nannies and producers and industrial-grade ovens behind the scenes? What Natalie's followers don't know won't hurt them. Then, one morning, Natalie wakes up in a strange, horrible version of reality. Her home, her husband, her children-they're all familiar, but something's off. Is this a hoax? A reality show? A test from God? Natalie knows just two things for sure: this isn't her perfect life, and she must escape, by any means possible. NOW BEING ADAPTED INTO A MAJOR FILM STARRING ANNE HATHAWAY Ideal for readers who… love dark, satirical thrillers about curated perfection, influencer culture, and what’s hidden behind the “aesthetic” enjoy high-concept psychological suspense where reality tilts—and the rules keep changing want a sharp, wickedly funny read that’s also nightmarish and propulsive are drawn to stories that mash up domestic unease, social commentary, and escalating survival stakes can’t resist “Stepford” vibes with a modern, addictive twist

by Lucy Kennedy

€14.99

Five old friends catch up on a sun holiday together - what could possibly go right? Five girls met on the first day of secondary school and have been very best friends ever since. They vowed to always find time for each other. For the last twenty-two years, no matter what and despite leading very different lives, they go on a week's holiday together to relax and exchange gossip. This year the girls are going to Portugal. But what dramas await? As they open up about their relationships, careers and "women's issues", will there be scandals, sexy shenanigans and shocking revelations? Because anything is possible for the middle-aged, perimenopausal and thirsty messers that are the Mini Breakers. Ideal for readers who: Want sunny comic fiction about long-term female friendship and midlife mess. Enjoy holiday stories where gossip, secrets and perimenopause all come along for the trip. Like Irish humour with warmth, scandal and a little chaos by the pool. Appreciate books about friends who know each other well, but not quite well enough.

by Katriona O'Sullivan

€16.99

Hungry is the powerful new memoir from Number One bestselling author Katriona O'Sullivan - a raw, courageous exploration of survival, identity and the lifelong search for self-acceptance. Raised in a home marked by poverty, addiction and abuse, Katriona defied the odds: from teenage motherhood struggling with her own addictions to becoming a university professor and successful author. But beneath the achievements lay a more private struggle - with her body, her worth, and the unrelenting drive to be enough. In this fiercely honest memoir, she interrogates how trauma, class and gender shape the way women see themselves - and how society teaches them to measure their value. Told with stunning courage and vulnerability, Hungry is both a personal reckoning and a powerful reclaiming of body, voice and self. It is one woman's story - and a rallying cry for every woman who has ever felt she had to shrink to survive.   Ideal for readers who: Seek memoirs that confront trauma, class and self-worth with real honesty. Are interested in the lifelong relationship between identity and the body. Want contemporary Irish life, survival and reinvention explored without flinching. Prefer emotionally direct nonfiction that is brave, searching and humane.

by Liz Nugent

€14.99

Ideal for readers who: Read family dramas shaped by secrets and long-buried damage Are drawn to the fallout of one early incident between two sisters Enjoy stories moving between Boston and Dublin across the years Want an emotionally intense novel with tension and depth If my sister hadn’t been beautiful, none of it would have happened. Ruby Cooper and her sister, Erin, live an idyllic life in their close-knit church community in Boston. But when Ruby is sixteen, she is involved in an incident that causes her family’s world to implode. Across decades, the fallout leaves a wake of destruction behind Ruby in Dublin and Erin in Boston. Not that Ruby wants to think the past. But it can’t stay a secret forever. Ideal for readers who... enjoy character-driven literary fiction shaped by secrets, guilt and long-term consequences like stories that move across decades and between Boston and Dublin are interested in the pressures and tensions of close-knit religious communities want emotionally intense family drama centred on sisters and fractured loyalty prefer novels where an early incident reverberates through lives, relationships and identity

by Shane Ross

€16.99

Since it arrived on the airwaves in 1961, RTÉ has been buffeted in different directions, eventually slipping into a steady decline which accelerated over the past decade into a catastrophe. The 2023 revelations regarding secret payments to star presenter Ryan Tubridy weren't the first time Ireland's national broadcaster has found itself caught up in scandal. Shane Ross, author of #1 bestsellers The Bankers and Mary Lou McDonald , winds back the clock to examine RTÉ's history of broadcasting excellence alongside the accusations of corruption, waste and ineptitude it has faced along the way. With clarity and wit, Ross rakes over RTÉ's colourful past while also considering what the future might hold for this once beloved institution. Ideal for readers who… Follow Irish current affairs and want context on RTÉ’s recent public scandals. Are interested in media studies, broadcasting history and Irish public institutions. Read Shane Ross for sharp political and institutional non-fiction. Want a timely paperback on corruption, waste and accountability in public life. Are buying for readers of Irish politics, journalism and contemporary history.

by Michael Connelly

€16.99

Sworn to protect a scenic island meant to be far from the evils of the mainland, Detective Sergeant Stilwell can feel danger closing in. Detective Sergeant Stilwell knows that his posting on Catalina Island is no paradise, but to most residents, it seems blissfully separated-by twenty-two miles of ocean-from the troubles of Los Angeles County. But now a threat is coming to his safe haven. Acting on a tip from a confidential informant, Stilwell and his deputies watch a plane land in the middle of the night at the Airport in the Sky, a remote airstrip in the mountains. A duffel bag of drugs is dropped and the deputies move in, but things quickly go sideways. While Stilwell chases the fleeing pickup man into the mountainside brush, shots are fired on the runway and the plane flies off. An internal inquiry follows, putting Stilwell on the bench until he is cleared of responsibility for the disastrous operation. But he is determined to find out who brought deadly violence to his island, and begins his own secret investigation into the drug deal gone wrong. While under orders to remain in the sheriff's substation, he finds in the lost and found a valuable backpack that was never claimed. He traces it to a woman who disappeared while hiking on the island four years ago. But then why was the pack only turned in two months back? Now thoroughly intrigued, he follows the mystery all the way to the LAPD's Open-Unsolved Unit and Detective Renée Ballard. Stilwell and Ballard work the case from both sides of the channel, and soon realize they are on the trail of a criminal who revels in taunting the authorities. Meanwhile, frustrated at being shut out of an investigation on his own island, Stilwell risks his already shaky standing in the department to pursue a case whose reach is wider than he ever imagine. Ideal for readers who: Respond to police thrillers where paradise is only a thin cover over violence. Need Catalina Island’s isolation to tighten the drug-drop and cold-case pressure. Trust Michael Connelly for procedural detail, momentum and moral strain. Follow detectives pushed beyond the safe-haven myth.

by Andy Weir

€9.49

THE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLING NOVEL A BARACK OBAMA READING PICK SOON TO BE A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING RYAN GOSLING A lone astronaut. An impossible mission. An ally he never imagined. 'The most enjoyable hard SF I have read in years' GUARDIAN 'Weir's finest work to date. . . This is the one book I read last year that I am certain I can recommend to anyone, no matter who, and know they'll love it.' BRANDON SANDERSON 'If you like a lot of science in your science fiction, Andy Weir is the writer for you. . . This one has everything fans of old school SF (like me) love.' GEORGE R.R. MARTIN 'Brilliantly funny and enjoyable. One of the most plausible science fiction books I've ever read' TIM PEAKE, astronaut ________________________________________ Ryland Grace is the sole survivor on a desperate, last-chance mission - and if he fails, humanity and the earth itself will perish. Except that right now, he doesn't know that. He can't even remember his own name, let alone the nature of his assignment or how to complete it. All he knows is that he's been asleep for a very, very long time. And he's just been awakened to find himself millions of miles from home, with nothing but two corpses for company. His crewmates dead, his memories fuzzily returning, Ryland realizes that an impossible task now confronts him. Hurtling through space on this tiny ship, it's up to him to puzzle out an impossible scientific mystery-and conquer an extinction-level threat to our species. And with the clock ticking down and the nearest human being light-years away, he's got to do it all alone. Or does he? An irresistible interstellar adventure as only Andy Weir could imagine it, Project Hail Mary is a tale of discovery, speculation, and survival to rival The Martian -- while taking us to places it never dreamed of going. ________________________________________ 'One of the most original, compelling, and fun voyages I've ever taken.' ERNEST CLINE, author of Ready Player One and Ready Player Two 'Undisputedly the best book I've read in a very, very long time. Mark my words: Project Hail Mary is destined to become a classic.' BLAKE CROUCH 'Andy Weir's brilliant Project Hail Mary...is one of those stirring sci-fi novels about every government on Earth banding together, through science, to save civilisation from collapse. I loved it.' THE TIMES 'A suspenseful portrait of human ingenuity and resilience [that] builds to an unexpectedly moving ending. A winner.' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY 'Weir returns with gusto . . . his writing flows naturally, and his characters and dialogue crackle with energy. With this novel, he takes his place as a genuine star in the mainstream SF world.' BOOKLIST

by Orlaith McBride

€21.99

On 18 April 1926 the first census of an independent Irish state was undertaken. Across the 26 counties over 700,000 census forms were completed by, or on behalf of, the 2,971,992 people living in the Irish Free State. But what can we know of the lives that they led? A century later, with the release of the 1926 census by the National Archives on 18 April 2026, those forms come alive again - revealing a nation in transition and a people forging their identity in the early decades of independence. The Story of Us brings together an wide range of scholars to illuminate the individuals and communities hidden within the census returns. From island settlements to expanding cities, from rural farms and urban tenements to the mansions of the aristocracy, the book traces a vibrant cross-section of society. Lavishly illustrated, it explores themes ranging from entertainment and the arts to housing, infrastructure, family life, and social change. The Story of Us offers not only a compelling portrait of 1926 Ireland but a deeper understanding of the world in which these lives unfolded. Ideal for readers who… love Irish social history and want to explore everyday life in the early decades of independence are excited by the 1926 census release and want rich context for the people and places in the returns enjoy beautifully produced, lavishly illustrated non-fiction that brings the past vividly into view are interested in themes like housing, infrastructure, family life, culture, work, and social change want a cross-country portrait of Ireland, from island communities and rural farms to city tenements and aristocratic estates

by James Hawes

€14.99

James Hawes’s The Shortest History of Ireland is based at every step on the latest scholarship, but it’s all brought together, for once, as a fluent story, as captivating as a novel, galloping from the Ice Age to the present, using language, graphics and images accessible to all. It will change the way people see the Irish past, flipping usual practice on its head and placing Ireland at the centre not just of Irish but British and at times even European history. Hawes concludes by arguing that if Ireland can now sidestep the last, toxic wreckage of the British Empire, its eventful past will flow into a bright future. From the bestselling author of The Shortest History of Germany and The Shortest History of England , this is popular history at its thrilling best. Ideal for readers who… want a fast, vivid introduction to Ireland’s story from deep prehistory to the present day. enjoy history written with the pace and pull of a novel, without losing scholarly grounding. are curious about how Ireland shaped—and was shaped by—British and wider European history. like big-picture narratives that challenge familiar angles and re-centre the map. have loved The Shortest History of Germany or The Shortest History of England and want the next exhilarating ride.

by Sheila O'Flanagan

€15.99

The extraordinary new contemporary novel, set in Ireland, Italy and France, from the bestselling author of The Honeymoon Affair and The Missing Wife. Ailie, Sybil and Rua can take care of themselves. But when they form an unexpected friendship, they discover new perspectives on old problems. Ailie is recently widowed, and struggling. At least she can cut ties with her toxic Italian in-laws. Except her teenage daughter is joining them in Trieste. Should Ailie follow, and confront the family who can't forgive her? Sybil has learned to be happy alone. But her younger sister, Tansy, thinks Sybil needs to find a man before it's too late. And she has the perfect candidate. Can Sybil cope with Tansy interfering - again? Twice Rua has faced the worst, and twice she's started over. All that matters now is protecting her daughter. Yet she's kept the full story from her. Is it time to trust Brontë with the truth? An intriguing and sparkling story about women discovering their strength - and loving life. Love for Secrets Between Friends: 'A warm, sensitive story about the power of female friendship, finding hope amidst the toughest times and the joy of second chances' LUCY DIAMOND 'A poignant, heartwarming read of women supporting and empowering each other through difficult times' PATRICIA SCANLAN 'A heartfelt, well-paced story, full of love and hope and wisdom' NORRIE CLARK

by Matt Haig

€16.99

When your life flashes before your eyes, where would you stop? No one can change the past, but the Midnight Train can take you there. The chance to re-live the moments that meant most. To see what kind of person you really were. For Wilbur his best days were with Maggie, the love of his life. On his honeymoon in Venice. Before he gave it all away. He wishes he could go back and live differently. But to do so risks everything... A magical, time-travelling love story, from the world of The Midnight Library. Ideal for readers who: Gravitate toward time-travel stories where regret matters more than spectacle. Need a love story that revisits Venice, memory and the cost of second chances. Gravitate toward speculative fiction with a tender emotional question at its centre. Have ever wondered which moment they would return to if time briefly opened.

by Chloe Walsh

€10.99

He fights for every dream. She fights for every breath. Johnny Kavanagh has everything going for him: looks, popularity, and talent. Shannon Lynch, on the other hand, has spent years trying to survive. When she transfers to his elite school, their worlds collide in ways neither expected. As Johnny battles pressure on and off the pitch, Shannon faces the demons of her past and the cruel realities of bullying and trauma. Together, they find strength, love, and the will to heal – but first they must face the challenges that threaten to tear them apart. Binding 13 is the unforgettable first book in the Boys of Tommen series – a raw, emotional story about resilience, young love and finding light in the darkest places.

by Patrick Radden Keefe

€16.99

In 2019, teenager Zac Brettler mysteriously fell to his death from a luxury apartment balcony into the Thames. As his grieving parents began to investigate his final days, they were shocked to learn that he’d been leading a double life, in which he was posing as the son of a wealthy Russian oligarch. This unsolved case is at the heart of London Falling – at once a family tragedy, a psychological portrait of a young fabulist, and an indictment of the greed for extreme wealth that has transformed one of the world’s great cities: London. Hiding in the shadows of its great architecture and imperial history are the malignant, mercenary forces that have come to influence us all – whether we realise it or not. In his inimitably gripping and forensic style, Baillie Gifford winner and New Yorker staff writer Patrick Radden Keefe explores what brought Zac Brettler (the grandson of famous rabbi Hugo Gryn) to the balcony that night – and how he became involved with some of London’s most notorious gangsters. Following Zac’s parents on a dark journey of investigation, London Falling unearths the unsettling truths they discovered – both about the sinister underworld on their doorstep, and about their son’s secret world.

by Alan Shipnuck

€16.99

The definitive biography of Rory McIlroy, the most important, popular and confounding player of the post-Tiger era, Rory McIlroy contains multitudes. He can overwhelm a golf course with his transcendent talent and then, at the next tournament, look utterly lost. McIlroy is golf's most eloquent ambassador and a trash-talking troll, sometimes in the same press conference. The child of a working-class family from a small town in a war-torn homeland now commutes to work in his own private jet and counts billionaires as confidants. A dozen years ago, McIlroy asked Alan Shipnuck a question about the player he had modeled himself after, Tiger Woods: 'What's he really like?' As McIlroy enters the last act of his highly eventful career, this book is a chance to redirect that old question and try to understand a man of deep complexity and contradictions. McIlroy's victory at the 2025 Masters packed such an emotional punch because he is golf's most vulnerable superstar. Across two decades as a pro he has been the anti-Tiger, letting fans into his heart and into his world. When McIlroy collapsed onto the final green at Augusta National, having at last completed the career Grand Slam, golf fans cried along with him because so many saw themselves in his struggles. But there is much that the public does not know about McIlroy. With reporting chops honed across thirty years on the golf beat, Shipnuck traces McIlroy's evolution from a young phenom in Northern Ireland to a game-changing force on and off the golf course. Shipnuck has shadowed McIlroy throughout his career, and he brings to life all the heartbreaks and triumphs with thrilling immediacy and unparalleled access. Tabloid romance, bitter business disputes, divisive politicking - it is all part of this portrait of a man in full. Shipnuck has long been known as the most fearless writer on the golf beat, and he goes deep into McIlroy's personal history at a time when the spotlight on Rory has never been brighter. Ideal for readers who… want a definitive, character-rich portrait of Rory McIlroy—his genius, inconsistency, and emotional candour love modern sports biographies with deep reporting, behind-the-scenes access, and real stakes are fascinated by the post-Tiger era of golf and the personalities shaping the sport’s future enjoy stories of ambition and identity, from working-class roots to global celebrity want the context around McIlroy’s career highs and lows, including the journey to the career Grand Slam

by David Baldacci

€14.99

'BALDACCI IS STILL PEERLESS' - THE SUNDAY TIMES REVENGE IS A DISH BEST SERVED COLD . . . After turning informant for the FBI against a global criminal empire, Walter Nash has lost everything he cherished to its ruthless leader, Victoria Steers. Once gentle and sensitive, Nash's rigorous training has forged him into a figure of power and precision with a singular mission: to take down Steers. Defeating a mastermind requires cunning. Known for her sharp instincts, Steers confides in only a trusted few, so to penetrate her inner circle and dismantle her operation, Nash must summon all of his savvy and strength. But as he edges closer to the woman who unraveled his life, Nash finds himself oddly drawn to Steers in ways he never could've imagined. And what he uncovers will upend all he knows, leading him to a choice that will change everything. Will the truth set Nash free? Or end him? The pulse-pounding, unmissable sequel to Nash Falls, from international number one bestselling author of The 6:20 Man, David Baldacci. KILLER TWISTS. HEROES TO BELIEVE IN. TRUST BALDACCI. 'Baldacci is the master' - Jeffrey Archer 'An instant classic' - Alex Michaelides 'A tour de force' - S.A. Cosby 'One of the all-time best thriller authors' - Lisa Gardner 'Baldacci delivers, every time!' - Lisa Scottoline 'One of the world's thriller masters' - Daily Mail 'A master storyteller' - Associated Press 'Baldacci cuts everyone's grass - Grisham's, Ludlum's, even Patricia Cornwell's - and more than gets away with it' - People Ideal for readers who… love high-stakes revenge thrillers with relentless momentum and a formidable villain enjoy FBI-and-underworld cat-and-mouse games, infiltration plots, and criminal empires want killer twists, shifting loyalties, and a hero forced into an impossible choice are already fans of Nash Falls and want the pulse-pounding next chapter devour David Baldacci for page-turning suspense, big emotions, and blockbuster storytelling

by Louise O'Neill

€14.99

2002. Twin sisters Madeline and Chelsea Stone are joint stars of the AtomicKids sitcom Double Trouble, but everyone knows it's Maddie who shines most brightly. Until Chelsea beats her sister out for the role of a lifetime and is catapulted into the spotlight. And just as Chelsea's star reaches impossible new heights, Maddie disappears. 2025. Chelsea Stone retired from acting after her sister's disappearance - but living life under the radar is easier said than done when you're the most famous woman of your generation. When a storage locker is found containing heart-breaking truths about the year Maddie went missing, Chelsea feels a flicker of hope for the first time in twenty years. This is her chance to discover what really happened to her twin, but to follow the trail she'll have to face the past and step back into the spotlight . . . Ideal for readers who… Enjoy contemporary fiction about fame, identity, and the fallout of child stardom. Like dual-timeline stories that move between past success and present-day consequences. Are drawn to sisterhood drama where loyalty and rivalry collide. Want a plot built around a long-ago disappearance and newly uncovered clues. Prefer character-led suspense with a media and celebrity backdrop.

by Freida McFadden

€9.49

Ideal for readers who: Read psychological thrillers where wealthy homes hide the worst truths. Are drawn to locked-room premises, forbidden spaces and heroines with something to hide. Would be hooked by an upstairs room no one is meant to enter. Prefer sharp, fast suspense about power, survival and deception. Wilhelmina “Millie” Calloway, a woman with a hidden past, takes a job with the affluent Garrick family to rebuild her life. She believes she’s finally found stability – until she’s forbidden from entering the upstairs room where Mrs. Garrick lies ill. Strange sounds, justified suspicion, and a husband with a perfect smile – Millie begins to realise this job is no fresh start at all. It might be a trap. The Housemaid’s Secret sweeps through power, abuse, betrayal and survival in an opulent house where the truth is locked away. And Millie holds the key.

by Doireann Ní Ghríofa

€15.99

From the author of A Ghost in the Throat , an unforgettable book - both history and ghost story - that will leave you gasping by its final page. In the city of Cork, a derelict Victorian mental hospital is being converted into modern apartments. One passerby has always flinched as she passes the place. Had her birth occurred in another decade, she too might have lived within those walls. Now, she notices a sign: FOR SALE. It is the first of many signs. Following them, she finds herself drawn into an irresistible river of forgotten voices, those of the women who knew this place best: insistent, vivid and true. They murmur from archives and old records; they whisper from stairwells and walls. Among them – and in one figure in particular -- she may find meaning, solace, rage; her own salvation, perhaps, or her own vanishing? A work of sublime intensity and tenderness, Said the Dead breaks the boundaries between worlds -- past and present, imagined and real -- to make something lasting and new: an experience full of danger, full of love and full of truth. Praise for Said the Dead : There’s magic in this one - a hauntingly beautiful and vivid and necessary book. Kevin Barry                         A haunting, visionary act of witness; this book will be read for decades to come. Anne Enright Said the Dead is one of those rare books where a reader encounters the writer and her characters at a dazzling and bewitching height, at a place where essence meets essence. A piercingly beautiful book that is wounding sometimes and consoling at others, the work, in the end, is life confirming: encompassed in the volume is the unparalleled expansiveness and depth of human minds and hearts. Yiyun Li Doireann ní Ghríofa goes to a place where the veil thins and the worlds meet, and crosses over, and returns, again and again, with living stories of the dead. You can feel the bravery of these acts of psychic trespass, and their sincerity makes for a mysterious and beautiful and thoroughly absorbing book, which continues to reverberate long after you finish it. Lucy Caldwell Doireann Ní Ghríofa is one of the finest writers of non-fiction I know. Said the Dead is an entrancing book -- lyrical and propulsive, it sounds out the echoes of history and finds voices and images that are moving and indelible. Reading this book is like being put under a spell Seán Hewitt Ideal for Readers Who… Loved A Ghost in the Throat — Said the Dead is Doireann Ní Ghríofa's return to the form-dissolving, time-traversing prose that made her debut unlike anything published before it. The same extraordinary attention is here, turned now towards Cork's Victorian asylum and the women the walls remember. Are drawn to Irish women's history that refuses to stay buried — this is a book about the women who were locked away, misdiagnosed, and forgotten. It recovers their voices from archives and casebooks and gives them back to us, vivid and insistent, across more than a century of silence. Want a ghost story that is also something else entirely — Said the Dead is haunted without being horror, historical without being academic, and personal without being memoir. If you find genre labels insufficient, this book was written for you. Read and loved Maggie O'Farrell, Carmen Maria Machado, or Hilary Mantel — readers who respond to prose that holds historical research and personal obsession in the same sentence, and who want their fiction to feel like an act of recovery, will find exactly that here. Have a connection to Cork — or to any place whose walls remember more than people say — the derelict Victorian asylum at the heart of this book is a real place, and Ní Ghríofa writes about it as someone who has walked past it and felt what many people feel: that certain buildings hold their histories differently, and that some of those histories are not finished yet. Believe that reading is its own form of haunting — the narrator of Said the Dead is a reader, pursuing forgotten women through archives and old records. As she reads their lives, we read hers. The experience of reading this book becomes part of its subject matter — which is either the most disorienting thing you can do to a reader, or the most generous.

by Katriona O'Sullivan

€10.99

Ideal for readers who: Read memoirs about poverty, education and social mobility in Ireland. Are interested in how small acts of support can change a life. Would value a firsthand story shaped by homelessness, young motherhood and academia. Prefer powerful, compassionate non-fiction that stays with you. EASON FAVOURITE BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 The No. 1 Bestseller, Biography of the Year, Irish Book Awards 2023 The Last Word Listeners' Choice Award, Irish Book Awards 2023 "One of the best [books] I have read about the complexities of poverty... one of the most remarkable people you will ever meet" – Guardian Like young girls everywhere, Katriona O'Sullivan grew up bright, enthusiastic, and curious. But she was also surrounded by abject poverty and chaos, and after becoming pregnant and homeless at 15, she spent five years barely surviving. Today, Katriona is an award-winning academic whose work explores barriers to education for girls like her. In Poor by Katriona O'Sullivan, she shares what set her on this unexpected path: the mentors and supporters who truly saw her. Teachers who showed her how to wash in the school toilets or visited her home to convince her to sit at least one GCSE exam. A community worker who encouraged her to apply for training schemes. A friend who introduced her to Trinity College’s access program while she was a cleaner. Simple acts that helped her turn her life around. Told with warmth, clarity, and compassion—for her parents, her younger self, and others—Poor is both a powerful personal testimony and an impassioned plea for the future of our children. Praise for Poor and Katriona O’Sullivan: "Powerful—Katriona is a legend." —Barry Keoghan "Raw, passionate, and resolutely honest—I’ll never forget it." —Annie Mac "Full of insight... so important." —Fi Glover, Times Radio "I read Poor in one sitting. It’s compelling, moving, uplifting, brave, heroic." —Nuala McGovern, Woman’s Hour, BBC Radio Four "Moving, funny, brave, and original—absolutely incredible." —Róisín Ingle, Irish Times Women’s Podcast "One of the books of the year." —Patrick Kielty, Late Late Show, RTÉ One "One of the most important books I have ever read—a beautiful story of determination despite the odds." —Lynn Ruane, Irish Times "Fearless, funny, and searingly honest." —Adil Ray OBE "Raw and remarkable." —Irish Independent "A book of empowerment and hope." —Patricia Scanlan "Remarkable... a vivid retelling of Katriona flourishing, despite her beginnings." —BBC News West Midlands

by Sable Sorensen

€13.49

CROWNED BYDESTINY. CONSUMED BY VENGEANCE. Against all odds, Meryn Cooper has inherited the crown – and a deadly war. As the Kingdom of Nocturna splinters under the weight of generations of lies, it is up to Meryn, her bonded direwolf Anassa and their allies to bring the country back from the brink. But the commoners, the Bonded and the nobles are distrustful of their new queen and Meryn is caught in a deadly game of politics. Meanwhile, Meryn's beloved sister, Saela, is more at risk than ever. Confusingly, the one person Meryn can trust is Stark Therion – the dark, dangerous Alpha she thought hated her as much as she loathed him. Yet, his loyalty is unshakeable. His presence intoxicating. And with his guidance, Meryn can seize an unthinkable level of power. With enemies closing in and shadows stirring her dreams, Meryn stands to lose her kingdom – and her heart. Blood will spill. Bondswill break. Fate will be tested. Ideal for readers who: Want romantasy led by a newly crowned queen with a kingdom collapsing around her. Enjoy bonded direwolves, deadly politics and vengeance-fuelled magic. Like enemies or rivals whose loyalty becomes as dangerous as their desire. Appreciate fantasy romance where family, crown and heart all compete for survival.

by Freida McFadden

€9.49

“Welcome to the family,” Nina Winchester says as I shake her elegant, manicured hand. I smile politely, gazing around the marble hallway. Working here is my last chance to start fresh. I can pretend to be whoever I like. But I’ll soon learn that the Winchesters’ secrets are far more dangerous than my own. Every day I clean the Winchesters’ beautiful house top to bottom. I collect their daughter from school. And I cook a delicious meal for the whole family before heading up to eat alone in my tiny room on the top floor. I try to ignore how Nina makes a mess just to watch me clean it up. How she tells strange lies about her own daughter. And how her husband Andrew seems more broken every day. But as I look into Andrew’s handsome brown eyes, so full of pain, it’s hard not to imagine what it’d be like to live Nina’s life. The walk-in closet, the fancy car, the perfect husband. I only try on one of Nina’s pristine white dresses once. Just to see what it’s like. But she soon finds out… and by the time I realise my attic bedroom door only locks from the outside, it’s far too late. The Winchesters don’t know who I really am. They don’t know what I’m capable of…

by Cathy Kelly

€13.99

Ideal for readers who: Love women's fiction where a sunny setting cannot keep secrets buried. Enjoy ensemble novels built around reinvention, confession and emotional collision. Would happily escape to Corfu, a luxury villa and ten days under pressure. Prefer glossy page-turners with warmth, drama and several lives in flux. Six people gather on a fabulous Greek island, each one hoping that ten days in the sun, writing their life stories, will magically fix their lives. Rose Talisman is pinning it all on a fresh start. Five years after her career as a tv therapist ended in one catastrophic instant, she is opening a retreat in Corfu. The understated, luxurious Villa Artemis is surrounded by wild pines and sea views. Just six guests. One week. Time for Rose to help them face their secrets - and move forwards. But Rose has staked everything on the retreat. It has to work - or she loses it all. And people's secrets have a way of revealing themselves in ways no one expected. Nobody's past is staying hidden for long... Will that include Rose's, too?

by Kathryn Stockett

€13.49

'Smart, funny, and driven by unforgettable characters... a must-read' Bonnie Garmus, author of Lessons in Chemistry You give a girl a taste of fresh air and then you take it away - she'll grow fierce and wild to get it back. Oxford, Mississippi, 1933. Eleven-year-old Meg Lefleur has learned the hard way to rely on no one. Ever since her beloved mother failed to come home last Christmas Eve, she's been one of the 'unadoptable' girls at the town's orphanage, where she fights each day to keep her wits sharp and her spirit unbowed. When she meets Birdie, a young woman who has come to Oxford determined to remind her socialite sister of the impoverished family she left behind, for the first time in a long while it seems someone else might care about Meg's future. But as the Depression tightens its grip, Birdie begins to suspect her sister's charmed life may be founded on a tapestry of lies. Then, Birdie encounters Charlie, a woman haunted by loss who has been pushed to the brink with nothing left to lose. Drawn together by circumstance, they find unexpected kinship among a disreputable, determined band of women. But in a town steeped in hypocrisy, even the smallest act of defiance can have dangerous consequences... Bold, heartwarming, and riotously funny, The Calamity Club is an unforgettable story of resilience and friendship, and a sisterhood of underestimated women who risk everything to take back control of their fates. 'With exquisite storytelling and unforgettable characters, The Calamity Club is a joyful, heartbreaking, heartwarming read. I loved it so much' Jennie Godfrey, author of The List of Suspicious Things 'As witty, bold, and transportive as it is heartbreaking and compassionate, The Calamity Club is storytelling at its finest. Stockett's masterfully drawn characters are simply unforgettable' Shelley Read, author of the international bestseller Go as a River PRAISE FOR THE HELP 'Daring, vitally important and very courageous, I loved and admired The Help. Fantastic' MARIAN KEYES 'Outstanding, immensely funny, very compelling, brilliant' Daily Telegraph 'A laugh-out-loud, vociferously angry must-read' Marie Claire 'Touching, disgraceful, funny. Highly recommended' Daily Mail

by Chloe Walsh

€10.99

Ideal for readers who: Are already invested in the Boys of Tommen and its bruising love story. Want first love pushed through trauma, loyalty and impossible pressure. Care about school life, family damage and the ache of trying to hold on. Prefer emotional romance that is intense, messy and all-consuming. An epic and unforgettable love story continues in Keeping 13, the second book in the international bestselling and TikTok-phenomenon The Boys of Tommen series, from Chloe Walsh. The power and pain of first love has never been more deeply felt than in Chloe Walsh's extraordinary stories about the irresistible Boys of Tommen, which will give you the ultimate book hangover. The reader reaction to The Boys of Tommen says it all! 'The chemistry, the love, everything about this book was so good it gave me all the feels . . . Beautiful book, beautiful words. Chloe Walsh you're my home' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'Chloe Walsh has surpassed herself again, from the get-go you will be hooked, you will be sad, angry, elated, hysterical and you will absolutely love it!' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'This was absolutely EVERYTHING. I find it difficult to even put into words just how much this book made me laugh, cry and swoon' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ 'There aren't enough stars for this book. It has everything, I laughed, I cried, I fumed and I despaired . . . This is a rare book, one that evokes every emotion' ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ......................... Falling in love was the easy part. What comes next is the test . . . Following a devastating injury that has left him sidelined and stripped of his beloved number 13 jersey, Johnny Kavanagh is struggling to hold onto his dreams. Lost, insecure, and desperately seeking comfort, he sets his sights on unravelling the mystery of the girl with the midnight-blue eyes, who haunts his every waking hour. Keeping secrets has never been a problem for Shannon Lynch. The life she was born into demands nothing less. She knows that demons and evil men don't just exist in fairytales. They exist in her world, too. Traumatized beyond repair after her return from Dublin, and desperate to protect her little brothers, Shannon finds herself falling into the same old cover-up, barely keeping her head above water, as her future unravels before her eyes. Beaten and broken, her walls are up and her trust is shaken. Only one boy has the ability to climb those walls. The boy who owns her heart. But secrets are about to be exposed and lives could be changed forever - can Johnny and Shannon's love survive? ......................... Want more of Johnny, Shannon and the rest of The Boys of Tommen? Read the rest of the series so far: Binding 13 Keeping 13 Saving 6 Redeeming 6 Taming 7 - preorder Claire and Gibsie's story now!

by Florence Knapp

€9.49

A once-in-a-generation debut from a major new talent, The Names is the story of three names, three versions of a life, and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark. THE NUMBER ONE SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'I've just been blown away by the best debut novel in years . . . A genius idea for a book' Sunday Times 'Wildly original and emotionally profound' Observer 'An unadulterated success: moving, evocative and utterly convincing' The Times OVER HALF A MILLION COPIES SOLD It is 1987, and in the wake of a great storm, Cora sets out with her young daughter to register the birth of her son. Her husband expects her to follow tradition and call the baby after him - but is it right for her child to inherit his name from generations of domineering men? Her choice will shape the course of their lives. Seven years later, her son is Bear, a name chosen by his sister, hoping he will grow up to be brave and big-hearted. Or he is Julian, the name his mother set her heart on, keen for him to become his own person. Or he is Gordon, named after his father and raised in his cruel image - but is there still a chance to break the mould? Powerfully moving and full of hope, this is the story of three names, three versions of a life, and the infinite possibilities that a single decision can spark. A BOOK OF THE YEAR IN THE SUNDAY TIMES, GUARDIAN, INDEPENDENT, IRISH MAIL ON SUNDAY, COSMOPOLITAN AND MANY MORE A READ WITH JENNA AND HAPPY PLACE BOOKCLUB PICK 'The viral literary hit' Grazia 'A beautiful, heartwrenching, utterly original novel' Miranda Cowley Heller 'One of those rare books that makes you glad to be alive' Stylist 'Magnificent . . . Read it. It's very special' Chris Whitaker 'Beautifully written, and wise and tender . . . An utter original' Jojo Moyes 'Exceptional . . . will stay with me for a very long time' Anita Rani, Woman's Hour 'Heart-shattering . . . a sucker punch of a novel' Pandora Sykes 'A modern classic' Jenna Bush Hager 'Heartbreaking and yet brimful of hope . . . Exceptional' Mail on Sunday 'Brilliant . . . one of those books that will make you irritable with anyone who interrupts you, but which you'll finish wanting to press into the hands of a friend' The Times 'Astonishing, unique and incredibly moving, The Names is a beautiful novel about the courage of a mother in the moment she names her child . . . I know it will stay with me for a long time' Jeanine Cummins Ideal for readers who: Want sliding-doors fiction where one name reshapes an entire life. Like family novels built around fate, identity and the weight of inheritance. Appreciate ambitious structures that still feel emotionally direct. Prefer debuts with a big concept and a strong human centre.

by Colm Tóibín

€14.49

In The News from Dublin, a beautiful collection of short stories from the bestselling author of Brooklyn and Long Island, Colm Tóibìn delves into the days and nights of those living far from home: lives of great longing, at a great distance from past lives and past selves. A woman in Galway hears of the death of her son in the First World War. An Irishman seeks anonymity in Barcelona, haunted by crimes he has committed. A man goes to Dublin from Enniscorthy to implore the Minister for Health for a special favour. A young woman is pregnant during the Spanish Civil War. An undocumented worker finds himself living an illegal life and must leave San Francisco, and his child, after thirty years in America. Three sisters who have been living in Argentina decide to return to Catalonia. 'Tóibìn is the consummate cartographer of the private self, summoning with restrained acuity (and a delicious streak of sly humour) the thoughts his characters struggle to find words for' - Clare Clark, Guardian Ideal for readers who... love literary short stories rooted in longing, distance, and the ache of lives lived far from home enjoy character-driven fiction spanning Ireland and beyond, with history and private memory close to the surface prefer restrained, emotionally precise writing that captures what people cannot quite say out loud are drawn to morally complex characters, haunted pasts, and quiet turning points with lasting consequences are fans of Colm Tóibìn’s novels and want his storytelling in an intimate, short-form collection

by Freida McFadden

€9.49

Influencer and baking sensation April Masterson knows the secret to the perfect gooey brownies. Or how to make key lime squares that will melt in your mouth. But if you keep watching her offline, you may find out some other secrets about April. Secrets she’d rather you didn’t know. Like… Where did her son go when he snuck out late at night? What was she doing with the local soccer coach behind fogged windows? And what’s buried in her backyard? April’s secrets are enough to destroy her. I’ll make sure of that. Ideal for readers who... love dark domestic thrillers with an unreliable, voyeuristic edge enjoy influencer culture settings and the tension between public image and private secrets like short, punchy chapters and escalating menace prefer stories packed with suspicion, hidden motives, and a creeping sense of dread enjoy twists rooted in family dynamics, neighbourhood gossip, and buried pasts