Showing results by narrator "Aoife McMahon" in All Categories

As Rachel picks up the threads of her life as a single parent, she can’t shake off the memories of her loving family in New Zealand—and her dream house, the villa on the bay. But it’s time to move forwards with their life in Ireland, close to the children’s grandparents, amid the familiar surroundings they all know well. Until the children’s grandmother, still grieving, starts to interfere, questioning Rachel's position as stepmother. Until Rachel’s attempts to strengthen the family she loves so dearly backfires, pitting everyone against each other.

London. Private investigator Chrissy Livingstone’s dirty work has taken her down a different path to her family. But when her upper-class sister begs her to locate a friend missing after a horrific train crash, she feels duty-bound to assist. Though when the two dig deeper, all the evidence seems to lead to one mysterious conclusion: The woman doesn’t want to be found.

On the night that Aunty dies, the Raggedy Witches come for Mup's mam. Pale, cold, relentless, they will do anything to coax Mam back to Witches Borough. When they kidnap Mup's dad, Mup and her mam must leave the mundane world to rescue him. But Mam is strange on this side of the border - striding, powerful, and distant. Even if they can save Dad, Mup is not sure anything will ever be the same again....

An exclusive short story for World Book Day from one of our best-selling authors.... Sometimes all we need is a relaxing holiday in the sun. For Anthony and Carole, a week in a lovely Greek hotel has helped them mend the cracks in their marriage. For widowed Jessica, it’s the longest she’s ever gone without visiting her beloved husband’s grave. However when the flight doesn’t go according to plan, they are each forced to face up to the very things they have been avoiding for so long.

Joyce Conway remembers things she shouldn't. She knows about tiny cobbled streets in Paris, which she has never visited. And every night she dreams about an unknown little girl with blonde hair.

Beth didn’t want to move to Dublin - she misses her old life and her best friend back in London - and to make matters worse someone keeps messing up her new room.... When she discovers that a boy called Robbie, from the 1950s, is slipping through time and into her house, things start to get really weird! Beth and Robbie create havoc together, learn about their different worlds and manage to help each other when they’re down. But the 1950s and the present day sometimes seem very far apart.... Can their friendship stand the test of time?

Dublin, 1943. Actress Julia Bridges disappears. The last sighting of her is entering the house of Gloria Fitzpatrick, who is later put on trial for the murder of another woman whose abortion she facilitated. But it’s never proved that Gloria had a hand in Julia’s death – and Julia’s body has never been found. Gloria, however, is sentenced to life in an institution for the criminally insane, until her apparent suicide a few years later, and the truth of what happened to Julia Bridges dies with her.

A mother always knows best. Doesn't she? For single mum Kate O'Hara, there was no decision to make. Her daughter, Rosie, is one of a small percentage of Irish children with a disorder that prevents her from being vaccinated against measles. All Kate can do is hope that herd immunity keeps the disease at bay and her little girl safe. For Madeleine Harrington, it was a leap of faith she wasn't prepared to take. Which is why she and her husband decline measles jabs for their daughter, Clara.

Fans of Abi Elphinstone and Katherine Rundell will adore this fantasy adventure trilogy about witches and forbidden magic from a beloved and award-winning Irish writer. In the second book in The Wild Magic Trilogy, the queen and her raggedy witches have fled, but the kingdom is not yet healed. The castle is haunted by memories of its brutal past. The ghosts are angry, and one of them in particular possesses a magic which may be too much for even Mup and Mam to handle.

From the acclaimed author of Normal People and Conversations with Friends, Sally Rooney offers two short stories exploring the "fleeting, sometimes awkward moments of attraction between people".

One unremarkable afternoon, Rosie watched her daughter Saoirse cycle into town, expecting to hear the slam of the door when she returned a few hours later. But the slam never came. Eight years on, after an extensive investigation into her disappearance, Rosie is the only person who stubbornly believes that her child might still be alive. When Rosie receives a call from her father, asking her to return home for the summer, she is forced out of her limbo. Life on the island of Roaring Bay revives old rivalries, but it also brings new friendships and unexpected solace.

In early 2018, Erin Darcy created an online art project, "In Her Shoes – Women of the Eighth", to safely and anonymously share private stories of the real and devastating impact of the Eighth Amendment to the Constitution of Ireland. In the five months leading up to the referendum on abortion, the project asked a simple question of undecided voters: put yourself in her shoes. Within weeks, Erin was receiving hundreds of stories from a broad spectrum of experiences of planned and unplanned terminations.

Maisie Brennan is standing on a podium on the 20th anniversary of the death of her son, trying to find the first breath that will help her start talking to a room full of strangers. A daunting task at the best of times, but she's also menopausal and one hot flush away from totally losing it. But as Maisie begins her story, she relaxes and, word by word, disappears into her past, back to the day when one mistaken action led to a chain of events that changed her life forever....

Is it possible to be young, progressive and a Catholic? Ellen Coyne is about to find out.... 'You know, this isn’t a Catholic country anymore,' someone proudly declared in a Dublin pub where Ellen Coyne was celebrating the repeal of the Eighth Amendment. About to turn 30, like many her age, Ellen had left the Church a long time ago, but she had never stopped believing in and talking to God. Now, she suddenly realised she wasn’t quite ready for this statement to be true, however much of a contradiction it seemed to present with some of her most strongly held views.

These real stories from real people vividly illustrate how lifestyles can be restructured both physically and mentally to help you recover from, and indeed prevent, illness. Why it so difficult to change your lifestyle habits, even when you know your life is at risk? Bernadette Bohan acknowledges that it’s not easy to change your life, especially if you are also dealing with a health crisis that is in itself life-changing.

From 1820 to 1860, nearly two million Irish migrated to the United States, mostly due to the Great Irish Famine of 1845-1852. Many died crossing the ocean due to disease and dismal conditions of what became known as coffin ships. Not Forgotten is the story of love and loss, enchantment and despair, joy and sorrow. Nora Brown was smitten when she met Oliver McManus. After fathering six children with Nora, Oliver disappeared, joining the Irish Brotherhood and leaving his family behind, he never returned.

Meet the Gogartys: cantankerous gran Millie (whose eccentricities include a penchant for petty-theft and reckless driving), ever-exhausted, put-upon stepson Kevin (erstwhile journalist whose stay-at-home parenting is pushing him to the brink) and habitually complicated, unpredictable teenage daughter Aideen. When Gran’s arrested yet again for shoplifting, Aideen’s rebelliousness has reached new heights and Kevin’s still not found work, he realises he needs to take action.

Long ago, on a windswept Irish beach, a young father died saving the life of another man's child. Thirty years later, his widow, Julia, decides to return to this wild corner of Ireland to lay the past to rest. Her journey sparks others: her daughter Bel, an artist, joins her mother in Ireland, while son Matt and daughter-in-law Rachel, at home in Liverpool, embark on some soul searching of their own. As the threads of past and present intertwine, Julia's family confront long-buried feelings of guilt, anger, fear and desire.

Meet the Augustts...a loving Irish family who, like all families, are a bit complicated. But they are bound together by their love for each other and the way their words shape their world. Things become a little more complicated when the mother has a stroke, and the force of nature who is Granny Mae-Ann comes to try to take charge to keep the family together. She has a job on. There's the son, Jacob, with all his words trapped in his head by The Autism; the father, Mickey, struggling to express himself at all; and Jenny, the daughter, quietly writing it all down to try to make sense of it.

Cass and her best friends, Lex and Nicholas, are the Bubble Street Gang! They investigate crimes, solve mysteries and have brilliant adventures. They've even got their own secret clubhouse. The gang need money and quick, and they have some super-genius ideas on how to make it! Like Operation Start a Company, Make Loads of Money for Nicholas s Project and Probably Also Become Millionaires! But Cass also has a mystery to solve. Who is the invisible boy? And why can't anyone else see him? Join Cass and the Bubble Street Gang as they start Making Millions.