“A compelling read”

Howth, November 2010, the big freeze. The body of a property developer is found, bludgeoned to death. Welcome to the messy, murky world of Detective Inspector Leo Woods and Crocodile Tears. Mark O’Sullivan, already an acclaimed writer of children’s and young adult novels, has turned his hand to crime fiction with Crocodile Tears, and it has already received acclaim from the Irish Times (“a remarkably assured first outing”), Irish Independent (“gritty, with dark humour … a good addition to the Irish crime-fiction corpus”) and the Daily Mail (“Splendidly idiosyncratic … this is fine crime writing”). Crime writer Peter Robinson called it “a compelling read, skilfully paced and plotted, with a vivid sense of place and engaging characters”.

Donal Ryan’s stunning debut novel, The Spinning Heart, won not only Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, but also overall Book of the Year for 2012. Jennifer Johnston called the Spinning Heart “the best first novel I have read for years and years and years”. Technically daring and evocative of Patrick McCabe and J.M. Synge, this novel of small-town recession-hit Ireland is witty, dark and sweetly poignant. Ryan Tubridy says it is “a stunning, stunning read”; John Boyne says, “I can’t imagine a more original, more perceptive or more passionate work than this”, while Declan Hughes in the Sunday Independent says Donal Ryan is “a new Irish writer of the very first order”. The UK hardback edition will be published on 27 June.

The Spinning Heart is the first book published under our new imprint, Doubleday Ireland, which aims to publish the best literary fiction and non-fiction authors successfully, both at home and abroad. Watch out for more from Doubleday Ireland – and from Donal Ryan – later this year.

Colm O’Regan’s Isn't It Well For Ye?: The Book of Irish Mammies, which was one of the bestselling books this Christmas. Based on the @irishmammies Twitter account, which now has 90,000 followers, Isn't It Well For Ye? explores the phenomenon of the Irish Mammy and what she might say about everything from the ‘new mass’ to the cardinal sin of not owning a cough bottle and the importance of airing clothes properly. And the good news is, there will be more Mammies this autumn!

Senator David Norris is one of Ireland’s most popular, colourful and charismatic public figures. His autobiography, A Kick Against The Pricks, shortlisted for the inaugural Political Book Awards in the UK, is published in paperback at the end of May.

Recent fiction titles in paperback are Anita Notaro’s A Moment Like This, an emotional tale of a shy young woman thrust into the limelight; Marita Conlon-McKenna’s Three Women, another beautifully told tale of passion. (Marita’s fans can look forward to her next novel, The Rose Garden, in June.)For thriller fans, in Niamh O’Connor’s Too Close For Comfort, DI Jo Birmingham uncovers a web of secrecy and betrayal in suburban Dublin; while Ken Bruen’s Headstone may be his darkest novel yet, with rugged PI Jack Taylor close to breaking point. And both Niamh and Ken return in the autumn with new thrillers!

Other recent books from Transworld Ireland include Tipperary hurler Lar Corbett’s autobiography, All In My Head; Keith Duggan’s evocative look inside the world of Ireland’s surfers, Cliffs of Insanity: A Winter On Ireland’s Big Waves; Gene Kerrigan’s excoriating, hard-hitting, polemical The Big Lie: Who Profits From Ireland’s Austerity? and the deeply moving memoir of singer/songwriter Danny Ellis, The Boy at the Gate.

Find out more about other Transworld Ireland titles in our Books section.

ABOUT US
Transworld Ireland was created in 2007 as an imprint of The Random House Group. We are committed to publishing a wide range of high-quality books of Irish interest, in both fiction and non-fiction.