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Turlough by Brian Keenan (Hardback; 16.99 IEP / 21.50 USD / 14.50 UK) 
While held hostage by fundamentalist Shi'ite militiamen in the suburbs of Beirut, Brian Keenan was visited and sustained by the presence of Turlough O' Carolan - the legendary blind Irish harper of the 17th century. This novel is thus a re-creation of an extraordinary historical story and a personal debt repaid. It is also, obliquely, a parallel life - another life imprisoned, shaped by the dark. Narrated largely by O'Carolan from his deathbed, and through the recollections of those closest to him, the novel powerfully brings to life a lost Ireland of famine and disease, eviction and oppression. Stalking through the broken and dispossessed comes Turlough O'Carolan, the musical prodigy, blinded by smallpox and now an itinerant harper, lauded by the aristocracy and a hero to his people. His Rabelaisian desire for drink and women is counterpointed by his artistic struggle towards the great music and some kind of inner peace. Driven by demons and dreams, riven by contradictions, Turlough emerges as a great man, full of frailty: a blind man afraid of the dark. A panoramic picaresque, rich with the textures and smells of rural Ireland and peopled by a host of angels and devils, this novel is a remarkable historical journey, and a huge imaginative feat. Read Ireland Book Review ñ Non-Fiction - October 2000 Mo Mowlam: The Biography by Julia Langdon (Hardback; 23.10 IEP / 28.50 USD / 16.99 UK) One of the many things that makes Mo Mowlam unusual as a politician - and probably one of the most remarkable - is her public popularity. Soon after the election of the Labour Government in the United Kingdom in 1997, it seemed obvious that she was one of its success stories. It was her personality that helped move the peace process in Northern Ireland towards the Good Friday Agreement. She showed that she was tireless and she proved that she was brave. Nobody could doubt the political courage of a woman who had been diagnosed with a brain tumour four months before she took office in the Cabinet. But can popularity actually be a handicap? Is Mo Mowlam a victim of the destructive rivalries that are rife in modern politics? Many questions are answered in this book - and they are not all about politics. This is the enigmatic story of a women who is everybody elseís friend, but is one of the most private people who confides in nobody. It is about a driven personality, about the daughter of an alcoholic who has been determined all her life to help others because the experience of her own childhood. It is about what makes - and breaks - a good politician. In this biography the political journalist-author traces the life story of Mo Mowlam, through her family, her friends, and her professional colleagues - in both her academic career and in politics. The book also looks in detail at what is arguably Mo Mowlam's greatest political achievement: the Good Friday Agreement. Sale Books We have single copies only marked down in price of the following hardback titles (all prices are in Irish pounds - 1 Irish pound equals about 1.15 US Dollars): Irish Non-Fiction History of the Catholic Diocese of Dublin edited by James Kelly and Daire Keogh Original Price: 30.00 - this copy priced at 22.50 Ireland in Quotes: A History of the 20th Century by Conor O'Clery Original Price: 19.99 - this copy 14.50 She Who Dared: Covert Operations in Northern Ireland with the SAS by Jackie George Original Price: 21.50 - this copy priced at 14.50 Fishers of Men: The Story of a British Undercover Agent in Northern Ireland by Rob Lewis Original Price: 21.50 - this copy priced at 14.50 The Story of Ireland: A History of an Ancient Family and Their Country by William Magan Original Price: 25.50 - this copy priced at 13.00 Irish Fiction A Star Called Henry by Roddy Doyle Original Price: 16.99 - this copy 11.50 No Drinking No Dancing No Doctors by Martina Evans Original Price: 18.50 - this copy priced at 11.00 Sale Books - Non Irish Titles Chronicles of Narnia (7 novels in one volume) by C.S. Lewis Original Price: 32.00 - this copy priced at 20.00 The Nothing That Is: A Natural History of Zero by Robert Kaplan Original Price: 16.90 - this copy priced at 12.00 Saddam Hussein: The Politics of Revenge by Said Aburish Original Price: 25.00 - this copy priced at 17.50 Witness to Hope: Biography of Pope John Paul II by George Weigel Original Price: 32.50 - this copy priced at 25.00 Set in Darkness by Ian Rankin Original Price: 20.00 - this copy priced at 15.00 Juneteenth by Ralph Ellison (first edition) Original Price: 20.00 - this copy priced at 15.00 Hard Time by Sara Paretsky (first edition) Original Price: 20.00 - this copy priced at 15.00 City of God by E.L. Doctorow Original Price: 18.50 - this copy priced at 12.00 The Clematis Tree by Ann Widdecombe Original Price: 12.50 - this copy priced at 7.50 |
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