CELTIC In Celtic Myths and Legends Eoin Neeson delves into the past and retells ancient Irish stories with a directness and simplicity which makes them refreshingly modern. The stories, with their intrigue, romance and excitement, have a style and character Myths and Legends all their own. Included in this collection are The Children of Lir, The Wooing of Etain, Diarmuid and Grainne, The Combat at the Ford, The Children of Tuireann, The Sickbed of Cuchulain and Deirdre and the Sons of Usna. Eoin Neeson was born in Cork in 1927. He worked in RTÉ Eoin Neeson as Director of the Government Information Bureau and with the Departments of Foreign Affairs and Energy. He published fifteen books, including The Civil War in Ireland 1921–23, The Life and Death of Michael Collins, A History of Irish Forestry and The Book of Irish Saints. He also wrote novels under the pseudonym Donal O’Neill. He died in 2011. www.mercierpress.ie MERCIER FOLKLORE Irish Publisher - IrishMERCIER Story PRESS RIGHTS CATALOGUE 2017 FICTION COVER COVER TO BE TO BE CONFIRMED CONFIRMED Tuesdays are Just as Bad The All-Ireland Author: Cethan Leahy A novel Publication Date: 08 June 2018 Author: Tadhg Coakley Pages: TBC Publication Date: 03 August 2018 Dimensions: 198x129mm Pages: TBC Format: Paperback Dimensions: 198x129mm ISBN: 9781781175644 Format: Paperback Adam is a troubled teenager. One night he tries ISBN: 9781781175675 to kill himself. When he wakes in hospital, he The All-Ireland Hurling Final is a momentous finds that he has company. A ghost. Or perhaps event attended by over 80,000 people and it’s something else. This “ghost” is as confused watched by millions on TV. In the spirit of as Adam about the whole situation. Donal Ryan’s The Spinning Heart or Olive Kitteridge The All-Ireland Narrated from the point of view of this by Elizabeth Strout, is a possible ghost, Tuesdays are just as Bad follows novel of interlinked stories revolving around an Adam as he attempts to return to normal life All-Ireland Hurling Final between the counties – whatever that is. When Adam makes new of Cork and Clare. friends via his counselling sessions, he ends up The Cork captain, Sean Culloty, takes to the developing a relationship with one of the gang, field, hoping to win the match, but also keeping Aoife. Surrounded by friends and with a new an eye on the crowd for a sighting of his birth girlfriend, Adam starts to feel happy again. The parents who gave him up for adoption years ghost, however, becomes jealous at this turn of ago. Darren O’Sullivan, the charismatic full- events. In the end, he decides that the only way forward for Cork, jumps to catch the sliothar he can be free of this feeling is if he kills Adam, (ball) and in those few seconds we see his or convinces Adam to kill himself. entire future play out. The Dunlea family Tuesdays are just as Bad deals with serious struggle to connect on the morning of the issues such as depression and teenage suicide, match, a dark secret held between them. A but is filtered through author Cethan Leahy’s man watches the match on his TV, his children humane and witty writing. A mix of Louise asleep upstairs, or has something more sinister O’Neill’s Asking for It and Nothing Tastes as happened? Good by Claire Hennessy, Tuesdays are just as Written by the exciting debut novelist, Tadhg Bad is undoubtedly the debut of an exciting Coakley, The All-Ireland is a novel that succeeds new talent in Irish YA fiction. in capturing modern Ireland in all its messy, multifaceted glory. FICTION JOHN B. JOHN B. Eddie Drannaghy, the ‘Ram of God’ works on a farm owned by his twin brothers, Murt and Will. Fifteen years previously, although intended for the priesthood, he was cynically seduced by the American wife of his cousin, fathered a baby girl and was forced to leave the seminary. JOHN B. His brothers are engaged to the daughters (both pregnant) of local matriarch and supermarket propriator, Mollie Cronane, and when their weddings are announced, the Ram makes plans to resume his religious education KEANE in a seminary in Southern California. But his plans are overtaken by events when disaster strikes. Mollie is determined to secure the farm and suddenly, it is the Ram KEANE of God alone who stands in the way of her happiness… ‘I’ll even the score with the Ram of God and he’ll rue the A High Meadow day he crossed swords with Mollie Cronane.’ A High Meadow is full of comedy, tragedy and melodrama, all centred around the village of Ballybobawn. John B. Keane weaves an inimitable tapestry of rural life: people A High Meadow good and bad, weak and powerful; gardai, priests and A High Meadow travellers, and towering above them all the personality of the Ram of God. Listowel publican John B. Keane is an Irish institution and without doubt the country’s favourite Kerryman. He has been prolific and successful in all the literary genres known to Kerrymen: from classic plays like Sive and The Field to novels such as the recently filmed Durango, poetry and songs, volumes of letters collected in The Celebrated Letters of John B. Keane and More Celebrated Letters of John B. Keane, short stories and miscellaneous prose. ISBN: 1 85635 090 8 Cover design by Penhouse Design £7.99 The Field is John B. Keane’s fierce and tender study of the love a man can have for land and the ruthless lengths he will go to in order to obtain the object of his desire. It is dominated by Bull McCabe, one of the most famous characters in Irish writing today. John B. Keane, playwright, poet and fiction writer, was born in Listowel, Co. Kerry, in 1928 and died in his home town on 30 May 2002. One of Ireland’s most popular authors, his plays include Sive, Big Maggie and Sharon’s Grave. www.mercierpress.ie Cover design based on original Abbey Theatre MERCIER DRAMA poster for Sive by Brendan Foreman Irish Publisher - Irish Story John B. Keane Collection John B. Keane, one of Ireland’s most prolific and respected literary figures, was born in county Kerry and it was here that he spent his literary career, running a pub which provided him with inspiration for his characters and ideas. He has been successful in all the literary genres: from classic plays like Sive and The Field to novels like Durango, poetry and songs, letters collected in The Celebrated Letters of John B. Keane and More Celebrated Letters of John B. Keane, short stories and miscellaneous prose. FICTION A compelling and well-crafted story – Myles Dungan est Cork. November 1920. The Irish War of Independence rages. A young woman is Wbrutally murdered, her mutilated body left on a windswept hillside. A scrap board sign covers her chest. The sign reads TRATOR. Traitor. Acting Sergeant Sean O’Keefe of the Royal Irish Constabulary is assigned to investigate the crime, aided by detectives sent from Dublin Castle to ensure he finds the killer – just as long as the killer he finds best serves the needs of the British Crown in Ireland. Meanwhile the IRA has instigated its own investi- gation into the young woman’s death, assigning Volunteer Liam Farrell to the task of finding a killer it cannot allow to be one of its own. Unknown to each other, the RIC Sergeant and the IRA Volunteer relentlessly pursue the truth behind the savage killing, their investigations taking them from the rugged, deadly hills of West Cork, to the bullet-pocked lanes and thriving brothels of Cork city. www.mercierpress.ie MERCIER FICTION Irish Publisher - Irish Story Peeler THE Valley of the Squinting Author: Kevin McCarthy Windows Pages: 480 Author: Bringsley McNamara Dimensions: 198x129mm Pages: 224 Format: Paperback Dimensions: 215x135mm ISBN: 9781856356596 Format: Paperback West Cork. November 1920. The Irish War ISBN: 9780947962012 of Independence rages. The body of a young This is a story of rural life, the power of gossip, woman is found brutally murdered on a public perception which people attempted to windswept hillside, a scrapboard sign covering present of the family and individual, and of an her mutilated body reads ‘TRATOR’. Traitor. inward-looking society, similar to the Keeping Acting Sergeant Séan O’Keefe of the Royal up with the Joneses theme. Irish Constabulary, a wounded veteran of the Great War, is assigned to investigate the crime, The novel so enraged the author’s Westmeath aided by sinister detectives sent from Dublin rural Irish neighbors that the book was publicly Castle to ensure he finds the killer, just so long burned, its author humiliated, and his father, as the killer he finds best serves the purposes a local schoolteacher, driven into exile. It also of the crown in Ireland. The IRA has instigated resulted in a high-profile court case by those its own investigation into the young woman’s who thought that they had been described. death, assigning young Volunteer Liam Farrell Hostility against the book led to its burning. – failed gunman and former law student – to ‘Valley of the squinting windows’ has become the task of finding a killer it cannot allow to a colloquial term, particularly in Ireland, for a be one of its own. Unknown to each other, society obsessed with providing neighbours the RIC Constable and the IRA Volunteer and peers with a good perception of one’s relentlessly pursue the truth behind the savage personal matters. killing, their investigations taking them from the bullet-pocked lanes and thriving brothels of a war-torn Cork city to the rugged, deadly hills of West Cork, both seeking a killer, both seeking to stay alive in a time where ‘murder’s as common as rain and no one knows a thing about it, even when they do.’ FICTION his phone keeps ringing at rehearsals, his boss in work is wondering why he keeps coming into the office with bags under his eyes.