Bernard Adams Books

This anthology of First World War poetry consists of the works of a wide range of poets, many of whom were killed in the war. Accompanying each poem is a contemporary photograph, taken in such areas as the forward trenches, behind the lines and in the base camps. The anthology is arranged chronologically, beginning with the patriotic, jingoistic fervour of 1914, and then gradually charting the move to a more realistic mood, culminating in the disillusion, resignation and anger felt so strongly by the men at the front. The poets included range from A.E.Housman and Thomas Hardy, whose writing influenced the soldier poets, to those who actually fought at the front, such as Brooke, Sassoon and Owen. There are some unexpected contributions from those who volunteered, but did not see active service, such as Laurence Binyon and W.W.Gibson, and Rudyard Kipling, who had written about soldiers long before the War, and whose only son was killed in action.

Crazy, funny and gorgeously dark, The Adventures of Kornel Esti sets into rollicking action a series of adventures about a man and his wicked doppleganger, who breathes every forbidden idea of his childhood into his ear, and then reappears decades later. Part Gogol, part Chekhov, and all brilliance, Kosztolanyi in his final book serves up his most magical, radical, and intoxicating work. Here is a novel which inquires: What if your id (loyally keeping your name) decides to strike out on its own, cuts a disreputable swath through the world, and then sends home to you all its unpaid bills and ruined maidens? And then: What if you and your alter ego decide to write a book together?

Fierce Love is a compelling and candid biography of Cork-born theatre pioneer (1918-2006) Mary O'Malley, founder-director of Belfast's Lyric Players Theatre from 1951 to 1981.