Books

Homeless at 13, pregnant at 14: life was not working out the way young Deborah Somorin had hoped. And yet, Deborah is now a chartered accountant at Ernst & Young, founder of housing body Empower the Family and mother of a 13-year-old.

So close to the Troubles, yet so far away, Thunder and Lightning is the story of one boy’s journey through the rather soft side of life in a town which lacked tough streets but boasted many cul-de-sacs.

We Don't Know Ourselves is an essential book for anyone who wishes to understand modern Ireland. Fintan O'Toole's magnificent history of Ireland in his own time.

Crawley is blisteringly candid about the people he worked with and unflinching in his commentary on the IRA leadership. Through it all comes the steadfast voice of a man on a mission, providing an evocative and passionate account of where that mission led him and why. 

McDonald dealt with notorious household names like John Gilligan, Christy Kinahan, Brian Meehan, Dessie O'Hare and, more recently, killers like Graham Dwyer, in his average working day.

BOOKS OF THE MONTH

It's a Sin's Jill Nalder tells the true story of her life during the AIDS crisis, and that of friends and colleagues, doctors and nurses, activists and fundraisers. 

A vivid and original account of one of Ireland's greatest poets by an acclaimed Irish historian and literary biographer.

Warm, embarrassing and full of love and insight, The Troubles with Us is a hilarious and moving account of the madness and mundanities of life in Northern Ireland during the thirty-year conflict. 

Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? is a book about a family of argumentative, loud, musical, sarcastic, grief-stricken siblings, shepherded into adulthood by a man whose foibles and reticence were matched only by his love for his children and his determination that they would flourish.

How gratitude can get the life you really want... 'Gratitude is your soul's superfood, but cheaper than goji berries, and twice as good for you. I like to think of it as mindfulness for cynics or the "gateway drug" to spirituality.