Heaps of Trouble
Emelyn Heaps.

Set against the lively backdrop of Everybody’s toyshop in Inchicore in Dublin, one word sums it up: trouble. But this vivid depiction of boyhood in the 1950s and 1960s, his parents mostly at loggerheads, especially his alcoholic father, as they bounced from sobriety to drunkenness, is never bitter. Emelyn does not ‘look back in anger’. Early schooldays at Goldenbridge Convent, injured at age ten in an explosion, which kills his beloved only sister, and going to court in search of ‘Compo’, are in turn distressing, sad and hilarious. Grief has its consolation when compo is in the offing. Description of this tragedy turning the family upside down is unflinching while mischief as a streetwise gurrier during his years at CUS School is wonderfully madcap. From the start to the heart-stopping finish after a summer working in St James Hospital, we are drawn into his triumphs and disasters with hilarity and sadness never far away. And then there is a love story.

978-1848890411

Memoir
PB
210 pp
198 x 128 mm
€12.99/£11.99
September 2010

Want to visit Emelyn's website? Click here for more information.

Now Available

Hugh O’Flaherty
His Wartime Adventures
Alison Walsh .

Hugh O’Flaherty, a cheerful Kerryman who loved sport, was in Rome in 1939 when the Second World War broke out. Unable to watch from the safe haven of the Vatican as people were arrested and sometimes killed, he set up an escape organisation for Allied POWs, Jews and others who needed help. The Gestapo chief, Kappler, had ordered Hugh be captured or killed, yet Hugh regularly donned disguises and ventured out in to the city. It was a thrilling game of cat-and-mouse between the Nazis and Hugh’s network of helpers, which included priests and nuns, communists, a Swiss count, British soldiers and the singer Delia Murphy. By the time the Allies freed the city, he had helped over 6,500 people. Written especially for children, this is based on the best-selling biography, The Vatican Pimpernel by Brian Fleming.

978-1-84889-058-9

Children’s Non-fiction
PB
230 pp
210 x 148 mm
€6.99/£5.99
NOT YET PUBLISHED: Due in September 2010

Following the publication in 2008 of Brian Fleming's The Vatican Pimpernel, the Hugh O'Flaherty Memorial Society was set up to spread the word about this brave Kerryman. The Society hosts a memorial weekend in November each year. Click here for more information.

Now Available

Ireland’s Animals
Myths, Legends and Folklore
Niall MacCoitir
Original illustrations by Gordon D'Arcy.

In early Irish legend it wasn’t St Patrick who expelled the snakes from Ireland, but Moses! A frog foretold the victory of the Normans in Ireland. This compilation of folklore, legends, and history relating to animals in Ireland includes description of their relations with people and being hunted for food, fur, sport, or as vermin, and their position today.

978-1-84889-060-2

Natural History/Folklore
HB
380 pp
234 x 156 mm
€27.99/£24.99
NOT YET PUBLISHED: Due in September 2010

Privilege & Poverty
The Life and Times of Irish Painter and Naturalist Alexander Williams RHA (1846-1930)
Gordon T. Ledbetter.

Alexander Williams was the first artist to open the West of Ireland to a broad audience. His life was extraordinarily wide-ranging. A landscape painter, he was also an apprentice hatter, a taxidermist and a professional singer. Illustrated with a wide selection of his work, this biography illuminates the diversity of his life and times with material found nowhere else.

978-1-84889-034-3

Biography/Irish Art
HB
440 pp
246 x 174 mm
€40.00/£35.99
NOT YET PUBLISHED: Due in August 2010

Gordon has set up a website to whet your appetite for all things Williams! Click here for more information.

Now Available

Remember When
Pictures from the Irish Examiner Archive
.

In the archives of the Irish Examiner are many thousands of photographic images, which provide a unique glimpse of the recent past. This book is a compilation of some of the best of those pictures from the mid to late twentieth century. This collection of photographs includes an engaging range of subjects: people going about work and play, visiting dignitaries, sportsmen and women in action, schoolchildren, holidaymakers and festival-goers, as well as historic events and personalities from the worlds of politics, music and many more. Complemented with concise captions, this book forms an extensive pictorial record of the people of Ireland.

978-1-84889-062-6

Irish interest/Photography
HB
256 pp
330 x 275 mm
€29.99/£26.99
NOT YET PUBLISHED: Due in October 2010

The Ship of Seven Murders
A True Story of Madness & Murder
Alannah Hopkin
with Kathy Bunney.

In 1828, the Mary Russell sailed into Cork Harbour from the West Indies. Seven crewmen lay in the main salon, brutally murdered by the captain. The trial was a sensation as survivors revealed a tale of danger and delusion. But what really happened? This bizarre tragedy and the dramatic court case are unravelled in this gripping account.

978-1-84889-036-7

Irish True Crime
PB
240 pp
198 x 128 mm
€12.99/£11.99
August 2010

Alannah Hopkin’s previous book was Eating Scenery – West Cork, the people & the place, which was also published by The Collins Press. Click here for more information.

Now Available

The Wild Garden
A new illustrated edition with photographs & notes by Charles Nelson
William Robinson.

The Wild Garden, one of the most influential books published in the history of gardening, was first published in 1870. It challenged the prevailing formal bedding style, advocating the use of hardy perennials and annuals to provide long-lasting, self-perpetuating displays. The book has a special resonance for Irish gardens and gardeners, as Robinson is Irish and trained as a gardener in Ireland. This edition, the first published in Ireland, is augmented with captivating photographs and notes by Charles Nelson, whose introductory essay sets Robinson and his book in context.

978-1-84889-035-0

Gardening/Natural History
HB
238 pp
277 x 219 mm
€29.99/£26.99
NOT YET PUBLISHED: Due in August 2010

When Bobby Met Christy
The Story of Bobby Beasley and a Wayward Horse
Declan Colley.

Bobby Beasley was a champion jockey, a trait that ran in this famous racing family. By age 26, he had won a Cheltenham Gold Cup (1959), a Champion Hurdle (1960) and a Grand National (1961). But when he was 24, Bobby took his first drink and soon succumbed to alcoholism. He turned a corner after his friend Nicky Rackard urged him to attend Alcoholics Anonymous. Five years later, aged 38, Beasley rode Captain Christy to an amazing victory at the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In the history of unlikely comebacks, that of Irish jockey Bobby Beasley is the most heartwarming of them all.

978-1-84889-039-8

Sport/Biography
PB with flaps
310 pp
234 x 156 mm
€14.99/£12.99
NOT YET PUBLISHED: Due in October 2010