THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARDS 2023

1. The Bee Sting TPB

by Paul Murray

€13.99 €21.00

Irresistibly funny, wise and thought-provoking - a tragicomic tour de force about family, fortune, and the struggle to be a good person when the world is falling apart... The Barnes family is in trouble. Dickie's once-lucrative car business is going under - but rather than face the music, he's spending his days in the woods, building an apocalypse-proof bunker with a renegade handyman. His wife Imelda is selling off her jewellery on eBay while their teenage daughter Cass, formerly top of her class, seems determined to binge-drink her way to her final exams. And twelve-year-old PJ is putting the final touches to his grand plan to run away from home. Where did it all go wrong? A patch of ice on the tarmac, a casual favour to a charming stranger, a bee caught beneath a bridal veil - can a single moment of bad luck change the direction of a life? And if the story has already been written - is there still time to find a happy ending?

2. The Grass Ceiling TPB

by Eimear Ryan

€15.99 €21.00

What is it like to be a girl, or a woman, in a male-dominated sporting world? If you play on the boys' team, more people pay attention - but you get treated like an alien. When you switch to playing with girls and women, you have to live with a smaller audience, diminished status, and - if you're a professional - lower pay. And what if - as is the case for camogie player Eimear Ryan - the sport that you play has a different name for women than it does for men, despite identical rules? And what if you don't even feel entirely comfortable in an all-female sporting environment because you're shy, bookish, not really one of the girls? In The Grass Ceiling, acclaimed novelist Eimear Ryan digs deep into the confluence between gender and sport, and all the questions it throws up about identity, status, competition and self-expression. At a time when women's sport is on the rise but still a long way from equality, it is a sharp, nuanced and heartfelt exploration of questions that affect every girl - and boy - who sets out to participate in sport.

3. Flavour H/B

by Mark Moriarty

€22.99 €24.99

Imagine if the everyday food you made at home, went from ordinary to extraordinary? This is Mark Moriarty’s speciality. By bringing restaurant know-how home, Mark’s home cooking – as watched by hundreds of thousands on his hit RTÉ TV show – packs ordinary dishes so full of flavour, you just want to try them for yourself. And now you can with this exciting first cookbook. Filled with 100 delicious, but totally achievable recipes, Mark will show you how to get the basics right every time and elevate everyday meals such as chicken and mushroom lasagne and slow cooked lamb curry into something so special your friends and family will be asking for the recipe too! This book is sure to become a firm favourite of home cooks nationwide.

4. The hike life

by Roz Purcell

€18.99 €28.00

Fall in love with Ireland's dramatic mountains and rugged coastline in 50 unforgettable hikes. Roz Purcell has been hiking the length and breadth of Ireland for years with her enthusiastic community The Hike Life, exploring the best of what the island has to offer. This book brings to life the beauty and majesty of hiking in Ireland along with practical advice, easy-to-follow route descriptions and a wealth of tips. In it you'll find: - the ultimate fifty hikes to do on the island of Ireland, from rugged mountains to forest trails and cliff walks; - the complete guide to everything you need for a safe and enjoyable hike; - dozens of recommendations for pitstops and photo opportunities along the way to turn your hike into a full-day adventure; - and breathtaking photography to inspire you to get out there and start hiking.

5. Sunday miscellany

by Sarah Binchy

€19.95

RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Miscellany is an Irish institution, a programme that has provided comfort, joy and entertainment to hundreds of thousands of listeners for over half a century. Arranged in calendar months and spanning the seasons of the year, some of the best broadcasts from the last five years are collected here in one volume. This sparkling selection of writing by the best of new, established and household names is sure to amuse, move and delight readers of all ages. Featuring: Colm Tóibìn Niamh Campbell Joseph O'Connor Louise Kennedy John F. Deane Susan McKay Nicole Flattery Donal Ryan Manchán Magan Rosaleen McDonagh Lisa McInerney and many more...

6. A Thread Of Violence TPB

by Mark O'Connell

€13.99 €18.20

From the award-winning author comes a gripping account of one of the most scandalous murders in modern Irish history, at once a propulsive work of true crime and an act of literary subversion. Malcolm Macarthur was a well-known Dublin socialite and heir. Suave and urbane, he passed his days mingling with artists and aristocrats, reading philosophy, living a life of the mind. But by 1982, his inheritance had dwindled to almost nothing, a desperate threat to his lifestyle. Macarthur hastily conceived a plan: He would commit bank robbery, of the kind that had become frightfully common in Dublin at the time. But his plan spun swiftly out of control, and he needlessly killed two innocent people. The ensuing manhunt, arrest, and conviction amounted to one of the most infamous political scandals in modern Irish history, contributing to the eventual collapse of a government. Winner of the Wellcome and Rooney Prizes, Mark O’Connell spent countless hours in conversation with Macarthur—interviews that veered from confession to evasion. Through their tense exchanges and O’Connell’s independent reporting, a pair of narratives unspools: a riveting account of Macarthur’s crimes and a study of the hazy line between truth and invention. We come to see not only the enormity of the murders but the damage that’s inflicted when a life is rendered into story. At once propulsive and searching, A Thread of Violence is a hard look at a brutal act, its subterranean origins, and the long shadow it casts. It offers a haunting and insightful examination of the lies we tell ourselves—and the lengths we’ll go to preserve them.  

7. Strange Sally Diamond

by Liz Nugent

€12.99 €19.60

**Selected for BBC 2 Between the Covers 2023** **WINNER Crime Novel of the Year, Irish Book Awards 2023** Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died. Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she cannot remember. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends and big decisions, and learning that people don't always mean what they say. But who is the man observing Sally from the other side of the world? And why does her neighbour seem to be obsessed with her? Sally's trust issues are about to be severely challenged . . . ***** 'In Sally Diamond, Nugent has given us an astounding creation with a singular voice . . . an absorbing, twisty, compulsive psychological thriller with surprising humour and pathos' Sunday Independent 'Strikingly well-observed and consistently surprising' The Times 'Incredible' Sara Cox 'Strange indeed . . . and smart, too! Shocking, disturbing and utterly original, Strange Sally Diamond will grip you from first page to last' Paula Hawkins 'Irresistibly compelling, this dark story is shocking yet endearing. A brilliant read that will suck you in' Crime Monthly 'Liz Nugent has outdone herself. Twisted and twisty, dark and gripping, no one is going to forget Sally Diamond in a hurry!' Graham Norton 'It creeped me out (in a good way) . . . Terrific' Ian Rankin 'Dark, compelling and deeply moving' Ruth Ware 'So, so good! Sally gets under your skin and worms her way into your heart. I didn't want it to end' Jane Fallon 'I'm lost in admiration for Liz and her writing . . . vivid, pacy, taut but so very moving' Marian Keyes 'Jaw-droppingly clever . . . One of the best books I've read in a long, long time. I can't stop thinking about it' Lucy Foley 'An outstanding achievement which transforms the dark psychological thriller map with both bravura and delicacy. One for the ages' Maxim Jakubowski

8. Kala

by Colin Walsh

€14.99 €21.00

'A gritty heartbreaker of a thriller... Part heartfelt coming-of-age tale, part brutal Irish noir, this is a spectacular read for Donna Tartt and Tana French fans' Kirkus In the seaside town of Kinlough, on Ireland's west coast, three old friends are thrown together for the first time in years. They - Helen, Joe and Mush - were part of an original group of six inseparable teenagers in the summer of 2003, with motherless, reckless Kala Lanann as their group's white-hot centre. Soon after that summer's peak, Kala disappeared without a trace. Now it's fifteen years later: Helen has reluctantly returned to Ireland for her father's wedding; Joe is a world-famous musician, newly back in town; and Mush has never left, too scared to venture beyond the counter of his mother's caf�. But human remains have been discovered in the woods. Two more girls have gone missing. And as past and present begin to collide, the estranged friends are forced to confront their own complicity in the events that led to Kala's disappearance, and to try to stop Kinlough's violent patterns repeating themselves once again... Against the backdrop of a town suffocating on its own secrets, in a story that builds from a smoulder to a stunning climax, Kala brilliantly examines the sometimes brutal costs of belonging, as well as the battle in the human heart between vengeance and forgiveness, despair and redemption.

9. Eyes guts throat bones

by Moïra Fowley-Doyle

€23.80

WINNER OF THE AN POST IRISH BOOK AWARD FOR SHORT STORY OF THE YEAR 2023 'ONE OF MY FAVOURITE STORYTELLERS. THESE TALES LINGERED, MORPHED, CONSUMED ME' KIRAN MILLWOOD HARGRAVE 'QUEER, HORNY, GORY, FANTASTICAL STORIES THAT GAVE ME SERIOUS WRITER ENVY' KIRSTY LOGAN The belly-groan of a face unpeeled. A break-up poem recited knee-deep in bog water. An ancient burial mound rising and falling like a chest. The ghost of Stephen Gately reading the ingredients on a ham and cheese sandwich. Startling, sinister and irresistibly joyful, Moïra Fowley's debut collection unravels all of our darkest impulses and deepest fears. 'SUCH A WITTY, AFFECTING, FRESH BOOK: I WAS DELICIOUSLY HORRIFIED' JENN ASHWORTH

10. My Hot Friend TPB

by Sophie White

€14.99 €21.00

The new novel from the bestselling author of The Snag List and Filter This.For very different reasons, Lexi, Claire and Joanne all need new best friends. Unfortunately you're probably more likely to be attacked by a shark than make new friends in your 30s . . .Lexi is on top of the world. The podcast she co-hosts with her ride-or-die bestie Amanda is going stratospheric but cracks are appearing and Lexi's starting to wonder if maybe monetising a friendship isn't the best idea after all.Claire's Whatsapp chat with her school friends is ominously quiet these days, which can only mean one thing: a side group without her. And when her newly-engaged supposed BFF doesn't even consider her as a bridesmaid, Claire hatches a cunning (if slightly bonkers) plan to find a new best friend and show her old gang what they're missing.Joanne's just had a baby so she's no longer available for tequila-fuelled nights out -- something she has to keep reminding her pals about. She loves her son and her boyfriend Bert (even if his un-steeped porridge bowls are about to send her over the edge) but theloneliness is killing her.Fate brings Claire, Joanne and Lexi together as they navigate the knotty, joyful and occasionally toxic swamp that is female friendship and try to decide which friends to fight for and which have a sell-by date.

11. Black & Irish

by Leon Diop

€12.79 €16.80

Actors. Athletes. Activists. Style icons. Scientists. Influencers. Entrepreneurs. Black Irish people are blazing trails in every sphere of modern life. In the first ever book about Black Irish identity, we take a look at the inspirational careers, dreams and achievements of legends, trailblazers and everyday heroes, including Ruth Negga, Gavin Bazunu, Dami Hope, Emma Dabiri, Rhasidat Adeleke and Phil Lynott. A groundbreaking celebration of Black Irish life.

12. I am the wind

by Lucinda Jacob

€22.39 €28.00

A fully illustrated collection of Irish poems, ranging from medieval to modern poems in English and Irish, edited by Lucinda Jacob and Sarah Webb and illustrated by Ashwin Chacko. This includes old favourites and new voices.

13. The Presidents Dog H/B

by Peter Donnelly

€14.99 €16.99

The President is taking his dog for a walk in the mountains. It’s the first time his pet has been on a hike and it’s very excited. But when a storm hits, the President sends the pup off for help while he takes shelter on the mountainside. The courageous dog jumps fences, scales boulders and crosses wild rivers, until he meets the Mountain Rescue team, who take him on the most exciting trip ever as their helicopter flies to the rescue, getting the President and his dog home to the Áras just in time for tea!