Marita Conlon-McKenna is an author whose works delve into pivotal periods of Irish history, particularly the Great Famine. Her writing is characterized by a profound understanding of historical events and their impact on individuals, especially children. Conlon-McKenna skillfully captures themes of loss, resilience, and the search for identity amidst challenging times. Her ability to blend historical accuracy with heartfelt storytelling makes her a significant voice in children's and young adult literature.
The long-awaited new children's book from Ireland's beloved storyteller, bestselling author of Under the Hawthorn Tree, Marita Conlon-McKenna. When Anna is sent to stay with her dad at Fairy Hill, strange happenings make her begin to wonder if the fairies she's heard about are real. And if they are, could her little brother Jack be in real danger?
"Following the disastrous failure of Ireland's potato crop, the people of Skibbereen and West Cork are soon faced with unprecedented disaster. Hunger, disease and death stalk the roads, fields and farms, the cottages and cabins, during Ireland's Great Famine. Mary Sullivan's dreams of a better future are shattered in 1845 with the arrival of the strange blight which destroys their potato crop. Refusing to give in to despair, she must use every ounce of courage and strength to protect her family as she and her husband and children fight to survive. Dr Dan Donovan is Medical Officer to the Skibbereen Union. The arrival of 'the hunger' soon brings starving men, women and children crowding into the town and the workhouse desperate for help. His wife Henrietta does her best to support him but her life is thrown into turmoil when friends and then her own family fall victim to fever. Meanwhile, Parish priest Rev John Fitzpatrick's faith is tested by the suffering and hardship endured by the starving families all around him. The story of this one town and its people mirrors the story of towns and villages all across Ireland during 'The Great Hunger'."--Publisher description
Maggie Ryan can't help it! She constantly finds herself organizing and meddling in the lives of others, trying to match things and people together, from her neighbours in Dublin's Pleasant Square to her own family. With three bright, beautiful daughters who are still single Maggie decides that a little romantic matching is needed.
THE NUMBER ONE BESTSELLER, SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2016 IRISH BOOK AWARDSWith the threat of the First World War looming, tension simmers under the surface of Ireland.
But as she finds herself drawn to the old neglected and overgrown walled rose garden and the dilapidated gardener's cottage attached, shesuddenly sees a future as shedecides to restore them. As the rose garden takes on a new life and starts to bloom again, Molly finds that she can look to the future with new confidence and hope.
Kate Cassidy is about to celebrate twenty five years of marriage to Paddy. Over the years she has begun to put the pieces together and now she has to discover who she really is and where she comes from. Kate, Erin and Nina all have to come to terms with what happened so many years before, and to find their own way of dealing with it.
Inheritance changes everything, as Ella Kennedy soon discovers when her father dies and the hundred-acre farm she has grown up on and run for years in the Wexford countryside is no longer hers.
Alice's passion for food has taken her from Paris to Dublin. When she marries, she hangs up her chef's hat to cook for her family and friends instead. When her marriage fails she opens up a cookery school and begins to teach a group of total strangers. In the comfort of the kitchen these strangers find that there is much to learn, not just about cooking - but about recipes for life...
This is the story of a young Irish girl growing up in Connemara in 1950 whose existence is irrevocably changed when she becomes pregnant and is sent to the home for fallen women in Dublin, the Magdalen Laundry.