Showing results by narrator "Caroline Lennon" in All Categories

Bridget and Josie are leaving rural Ireland for New York, to stay with a distant relative, Catherine, who has found jobs for them. On the journey they meet a young orphaned girl, Julia, who is travelling alone in hopes of staying with her long-absent brother. When they get to the brother's address, he is no longer there, and no one knows where he has gone to. In the following weeks they do their best to search for him, but are unsuccessful as he has a common name, and the police are not particularly interested in finding yet another lost Irish man.

Spanning four centuries, The Long Gaze Back features 22 new stories by some of the most talented Irish women writers working today. Taken together, the collected works of these writers reveal an enrapturing, unnerving, and piercingly beautiful mosaic of a lively literary landscape. The anthology presents an inclusive and celebratory portrait of the high calibre of contemporary literature in Ireland. These stories run the gamut from heartbreaking to humorous, but each leaves a lasting impression. They chart the passions, obligations, trials and tribulations of a variety of vividly drawn characters with unflinching honesty and relentless compassion. These are stories to savour.

Everything changes for Kate, Moya and Romy when they receive word that Maeve Dillon, their mother, is critically ill. It is time to return from Dublin, London and New York to Rossmore and the old stone house overlooking the Irish Sea where they grew up. But ancient jealousies surface as each sister confronts the past and the decisions they have made.

Young Irish nurse Ellen arrives at May Day House, tasked with helping the men there rehabilitate. But there’s something strange about the house, surrounded by water, on its own island in the Thames. And then there are the men: traumatised by their experiences of war, and subject to troubling methods in a desperate race to get them back to duty. As Ellen gets drawn into the world of May Day House, she starts to realise this will be no place to hide away from her own troubles…

Years of neglect and abandonment have left the family seat of the Keneficks almost derelict, but the new Lord Kenefick and his charming young wife Kate are determined to breathe life into the old house once more. The war is over, and they have survived, so now they must set about making a bright future for themselves and their family. But the shadows of the past are ever lurking, and there are many who are not willing to see the new Lady Kenefick as anything more than the housekeeper's daughter.

Mary hasn’t told her family that she’s coming home for Christmas. After breaking up with her boyfriend just before the holidays, she decides to surprise them and get a last-minute flight home. But when she arrives in Ireland after a long journey, she discovers her family have had the same idea, and gone to New York to surprise her. To make matters infinitely worse, they’ve done a house swap with grumpy (but sexy) New Yorker Evan, who makes it clear he doesn’t want her, or her Christmas cheer, around.

A group of young Irish migrants leave a man called Hopper for dead on an outback road in Australia. They barely know him; no-one will miss him in their world of hostels, wild nights on cheap wine and grinding work on isolated farms. In this powerful audiobook about the discovery of responsibility, three young people - Fiona, Murph and Hopper - flee the collapse of their country's economy. In the heat and endless spaces of Australia they try to escape their past, but impulsive cruelty, shame and guilt drag them down, and it is easy to make terrible choices.

The darkest crimes leave the deepest roots A house built on secrets An old woman haunted by her past A young woman fighting for her life For Sara Keane, it was supposed to be a second chance. A new country. A new house. A new beginning. Then came the knock on the door. Elderly Mary Jackson can't...

Alice and Megan are back, and that can only mean one thing: trouble! It's Easter, and best friends Alice and Megan are together in Limerick again. They are both looking forward to their confirmation, especially as their two families are going out to dinner together to celebrate. But not even a meal can be simple when Alice is around, as she decides to hatch a plan to get her parents back together.

Life in 1920s Belfast is hard for the working class people, but the McGuigans are more fortunate than most. But when eldest son Johnnie shatters the family’s peaceful existence with a shocking and unwelcome revelation, opinions become divided. And there are secrets in other quarters, too, when Sister Louise discovers her boyfriend is hiding something - a secret so terrible it threatens their engagement.

1971. With the troubles in Belfast at their height, a happy domestic life is something that Tess Maguire yearns for. Yet the political and social unrest are sending ripples of uncertainty through every aspect of her life. Whilst her partnership with her friend Theresa Cunningham in a dressmaking firm is successful, it's beginning to affect her romantic interests. Theresa's boyfriend Bob always seems to be near Tess. Near enough, one night, to declare his true feelings for her....

Eva Gordon doesn't like mysteries - so when new girl Aretta hurries away after school every day, Eva's determined to find out why. And Aretta’s not the only person Eva’s interested in - a friend’s granny has been parted from her beloved dog, so Eva decides to cheer her up. But can she? Eva finds that some things are too big and complicated for one girl to deal with alone...but she has a talent for bringing people together, and together people can do almost anything!

Late 1960s, Tullamore, County Offaly. Life is full of exciting possibilities for Fiona Tracey as she prepares to leave Ireland to work for a wealthy family in New York. Then a sudden tragedy forces Fiona to postpone her departure. As her mother sinks into illness and depression, Fiona's responsibilities mount, and she uncovers information which explodes old family secrets....

Everyone deserves to find that one person who's meant for them, don't they? Honest and wise, poignant and warm, this is completely absorbing storytelling for fans of Jojo Moyes and Marian Keyes. Vinnie is an ordinary man. Ellen is an ordinary woman. Ellen is unable to move on after a terrible accident that left her mentally and physically scarred. Taxi driver Vinnie is struggling to cope with bringing up two children on his own. Everyone deserves to find that one person who's meant for them, don't they?

To her neighbours in Belfast, Maura Brady looks like she has it all - an attractive husband, a comfortable home and a gorgeous little boy, Danny. But behind closed doors, things are far from idyllic. Maura has long harboured doubts that her husband Adam only married her because he was quickly trying to mend a broken heart. Years ago, Adam’s childhood sweetheart Evelyn suddenly left town to marry a rich, older man and left Adam shocked and shaken.

On the idyllic Pine Road, three women are looking for a fresh start.... Martha was a force of nature, but since moving to Dublin under mysterious circumstances, she can't seem to find her footing. Robin was the 'it' girl in school. Now she's back at her parents' with her four-year-old, vowing that her ex is out of the picture for good. Edie has the perfect life, but she longs for a baby, the acceptance of her neighbours, and to find out why her dream husband is avoiding their dream future.

Nora and Theresa Flynn are 21 and 17 when they leave their small village in Ireland and journey to America. Nora is the responsible sister; she's shy and serious and engaged to a man she isn't sure that she loves. Theresa is gregarious; she is thrilled by their new life in Boston and besotted with the fashionable dresses and dance halls on Dudley Street. But when Theresa ends up pregnant, Nora is forced to come up with a plan - a decision with repercussions they are both far too young to understand.

Life is complicated enough for Molly and Beth even before they walk through a spooky doorway that leads to - Thursday 26 July 1984! The girls can’t believe they are back in a time where the hair is weird and the technology is basic. But when Beth realises that her mum, who died when Beth was little, would be alive in the 1980s, she just has to try to find her.... Can the girls navigate their way through the strange world of their parents’ youth - and back home again (without using Google maps)?

Ireland . . . America . . . Family secrets . . . Laughter . . . Tragedy . . . Swimming . . . Dogs . . . Big beaches . . . Loneliness . . . A story of unexpected, life-changing...

Having lost her mother at a young age, Maria Conti is close to her father, Leo, who owns an Italian restaurant, Leonardo’s. Secretly, however, she worries over Leo's drinking and gambling binges. Maria has no one to advise her as Leo's family is in Italy and her mother's family in Ireland rejected her when she married a foreigner. Then Leo is tragically killed. In the dark days that follow it emerges that he has left them deeply in debt. Maria has no choice but to turn to her estranged Irish family.