Are You Ready?

by Amanda Hearty

Ready for… love?
Ready for…. a new job?
Ready to… grow up?
Ready for… change?
Ready for…life?

Life has been good for Ali, Molly, Ben and Sarah, things have seemed easy and uncomplicated and they have had the world at their feet. But now as they say goodbye to their twenties and thirty looms they begin to question themselves…

Is Ali really ready to get married and become a wife, or is everything moving too fast? Molly has followed her dreams and changed jobs, but has she made a big mistake? Ben is still living at home – surely it’s time he moved out? And will Sarah ever find someone to love or will she always be single?

Life is full of twists and turns and change is inevitable. Now they must ask themselves… are they ready for it?

Back From The Brink: Ireland's Road to Recovery

by Marc Coleman

We're in the midst of a global economic crisis and a domestic economic disaster.

But enough of the hand-wringing. Where did this all come from, where are we now and, most importantly, what’s going to happen next?

In a compelling and jargon-free argument, economist Marc Coleman makes sense of this mess we’re in with clear, accessible analysis of Ireland’s economic situation and where it might be heading.

Addressing first the global dimension – how early warnings were ignored, why American monetary policy failed the world and why an unfinished revolution in globalisation left us defenceless – Coleman makes a case for a new kind of capitalism.

The unravelling threads that created the Irish financial crisis are also untangled. The death of competitiveness, the mismanagement of tax revenues, issues of demographics, bad urban planning, stupid banks and an unsuccessful regulator are all examined and, combined with dysfunctional politics, are shown to be the root causes of the predicament we now find ourselves in.

But all is not lost.

With a positive, can-do approach to the economic crisis, Coleman creates a fix-it manual for the future, explaining how Ireland can prosper again by adopting a smart economy, reforming social partnership and curing a warped fiscal cycle with budgetary and electoral reform.

Ireland’s economic nightmare will end. It is a dream not destroyed, merely delayed.

Barefoot Over Stones

by Liz Lyons

What would it take to destroy your closest friendship?

Alison and Ciara meet at college in Dublin and soon become firm allies, sharing a flat and facing the world together.Ciara is all that Alison aspires to be - sassy, confident and fearless. Although their backgrounds could not be more different, they find solace and humour in each other’s company.

That is until gorgeous Dan Abernethy, a young medical student, enters their lives, and everything changes irrevocably.Friendship loses out when love turns Alison’s world upside down and a terrible betrayal threatens the closeness known only to best friends.

It is only when tragedy strikes many years later that Alison and Ciara are able to discover the redemptive power of true friendship.

Barefoot Over Stones

by Liz Lyons

What would it take to destroy your closest friendship?

Alison and Ciara meet at college in Dublin and soon become firm allies, sharing a flat and facing the world together. Ciara is all that Alison aspires to be - sassy, confident and fearless. Although their backgrounds could not be more different, they find solace and humour in each other’s company.

That is until gorgeous Dan Abernethy, a young medical student, enters their lives, and everything changes irrevocably. Love turns Alison’s world upside down and a terrible betrayal threatens everything she holds dear. It is only when tragedy strikes many years later that Alison and Ciara are offered a chance at redemption.

Benedictus: A Book Of Blessings

by John O'Donohue

‘We have fallen out of belonging. Consequently, when we stand before crucial thresholds in our lives, we have no rituals to protect, encourage and guide us as we cross over into the unknown. For such crossings, we need to find new words. What is nearest to the heart is often farthest from the word. This book is an attempt to reach into that tenuous territory of change that we must cross…’

In sharing words of profound grace and wisdom, master storyteller John O'Donohue's Benedictus offers blessings to shelter us as we confront the many challenges we face on our journey through life.

Living in an anxious world - a world so often dominated by unwelcome change, unhappiness and even despair – many readers will find comfort in John O’Donohue’s illuminating introductions, covering areas such as Beginnings, Desires, States of the Heart, Callings and Beyond Endings, and the blessings themselves provide an inspiring and reassuring new vision of possibility. It is also a vision of hope and belonging for this sometimes troubled world.