Read Ireland Book News - Issue 1
<-- [Back To Main Menu] Welcome to the first issue of Read Ireland Book News. Read Ireland Book News will feature 4 or 5 important new books per issue and a special offer unique to this newsletter; it will be sent 3 or 4 times per month. If there are any titles, authors or subjects which you would like to see featured or if there is any information on Irish publishing or bookselling you would like to find out about, please let me know and I shall do my best to find out for you.
Holding the Line: An Autobiography by John Hermon (hardback; 16.99 Irish pounds/27 US Dollars approximately) [Add To Basket]
For nineteen turbulent years John Hermon was Chief Constable of the Royal Ulster Constabulary, one of the more dangerous and controversial policing roles anywhere in the world. Hermon's name was never far from the headlines as with forthright and independent style he strove to ensure that the RUC served all the people of Northern Ireland impartially. Yet he was criticised by the Stalker Report, ostracised for some time by the Garda Commissner and vilified by Ian Paisley. At the same time, he needed to keep his distance from the political expediences that held sway in Dublin and London.
What supported him above all was the courage, patience and tolerance of his wife who helped him through family as well as professional tragedies until the crisis-ridden year of 1986 when he especially needed her.
Forlorn and embittered, yet sustained by his unshakeable confidence in his Force during the difficult circumstances that followed the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement, he found unexpected love with a kindred spirit. Meeting her gave his life yet another completely different turn.
This is an autobiography told with energetic and revealing candour. It is an immensely frank, detailed, measured and humane account, from a unique vantage point of policing in Northern Ireland.
Eyewitness Bloody Sunday: The Truth edited by Don Mullan (paperback; 8.99 Irish pounds/14.50 US Dollars approx.) [Add To Basket]
Derry, 30 January 1992. A bright Sunday afternoon. Ia 'carnival atmosphere' a peaceful anti-internment march begins. A few hours later, 13 men have been shot dead, mostly by single shots to the head and trunk. Within days of the killings, over 500 eyewitness testimonies were recorded to be presented to the Widgery Tribunal by the National Council for Civil Liberties. Only 15 were considered. Forgotten for over 20 years, they have now all been unearthed by Don Mullan, himself an eyewitness. Over 100 are published here for the first time. Marking the 25th anniversary of Bloody Sunday, these accounts pierce to the heart of the day's events. They reveal the terrible truth that the British Establishment still refuses to disclose.
The Cove Shivering Club by Michael Curtin (paperback; 8.99 Irish pounds/14.50 US dollars approx). [Add To Basket]
It all began on Good Friday, 1955, when, aged 10, Junion Nash and Dunstan Tucker swam each way across the bay, defying the freshness of the Atlantic in spring, and thereby became full members of the Cove Shivering Club. The rulesere simple: you don't piss in the water and you don't bring a woman.
Membership of the club marks a step into manhood but, even at ten, manhood brings its trials. Dunstan, deprived of a summer vacation at the cove, develops a demented financial obsession. Junior, disturbed by the arrival of a rule-busting woman, finds the ceiling swapping places with the floor as he is clattered around by the benignly violent Ingy. Junior never really gets to grips with women; Dunstan never gets to grips with credit.
The other members of the Cove Shivering Club - the scheming Dessie, the bluff and the loyal Budge and Tom, the slippery Tommy Ryan-O'Brien, Father Ab Sheehy and Dollars Mulcahy, English impresario Harry Lamb - are linked in a farcical election minuet of their own, contesting the presidency of the Cove Shivering Club, their votes sliding uncertainly fromone side to the other in a knot of inducement, strong-arm tactics, deviousness and raw emotional blackmail.
With its maze of comic twists and turns, The Co Shivering Club brilliantly demonstrates Michael Curtin's wicked sense of the humourous absurd and his deeply affectionary understanding of the most human of moral frailties.
Ireland by Max Caulfield with photography by Joe Cornish (paperback; 9.99 Irish pounds/16 US dollars approx) [Add To Basket]
Here is a unique companion to Ireland's most beautiful and historic regions, providing detailed coverage of landscape, art, architecture and history. With a combination of fine writing, impeccable research and original photography, this exceptional book guides the reader on a series of well-planned journeys, exploring Ireland's historic cities and towns as well as her charming, unspoilt countryside.
Whether revelling in the urbane pleasures of Dublin, taking a fresh look at the Lakes of Killarney or seeking out the remotest beauties of the offshore islands, Max Caulfield is a well-informed guide with a fund of insights and lively anecdotes. Specially commissioned photography by Joe Cornish accompanies the text, making this book a superb visual celebration of Ireland and a valuable reference book for the first-time visitor and the committed Hibernophile.
Special Offers:
Siobhan: A Memoir of an Actress by Micheal O hAodha (hardback; original price 15.99 Irish pounds - special offer price 4.99 Irish pounds/8.00 US dollars approx) [Add To Basket]
Siobhan McKenna was the foremost of all Irish actresses. In this unique book the author, who know her well and worked with her over many years, provides us with an unrivalled insight into her life and achievements.
I sincerely hope that you found the first issue of Read Ireland Book News informative and useful and that you look forward to the next issue. (If, however, you wish to be taken off the mailing list for this newsletter please just return this email to me and I shall immediately remove your address.)Thank you very much.
Gregory Carr
Read Ireland - the Irish Internet Bookstore
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