Roddy Doyle

Picking up nearly ten years after the tale, The Woman Who Walked into Doors, Dublin widow Paula begins her fifth month of sobriety while endeavoring to raise the two children who are still at home, an endeavor during which she struggles to make ends meet, attends parent-teacher conferences, and develops a taste for rock music. Reprint.

THE PHENOMENAL MEMOIR OF A NATIONAL TREASUREAfter Kellie Harrington won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, the Irish public recognized her as not merely a sporting hero, but a deeply inspirational human being. Now, Kellie tells the story of her unlikely journey to the top, and of the many obstacles and setbacks she overcame along the way.Growing up in Dublin's north inner city, Kellie was in danger of going down the wrong path in life before she discovered boxing. The local boxing club was all-male and initially wouldn't let her join, but she persisted.She was not an overnight success. For years she struggled in international competition. At times she felt unsupported by the national boxing set-up. More than once she considered giving up the sport. But some spark of ambition and love for boxing kept her going, and gradually she made herself world class.Writing with Roddy Doyle, the award-winning author of The Commitments, Kellie tells the story of her unlikely rise to greatness and her continuing dedication to living a normal life - which has involved remaining an amateur boxer and keeping the job she loves, at a Dublin psychiatric hospital. She shares exceptionally vivid and revealing details about being a woman in a historically male sport, and about how she manages her body and her mind. It is a vastly inspiring look inside the life and psychology of a woman who is both brilliantly ordinary and utterly exceptional.

With contributions by: William Boyd, Candice Carty-Williams, Imtiaz Dharker, Roddy Doyle, Pico Iyer, Robert Macfarlane, Andy Miller, Jackie Morris, Jan Morris, Sisonke Msimang, Dina Nayeri, Chigozie Obioma, Michael Ondaatje, David Pilling, Max Porter, Philip Pullman, Alice Pung, Jancis Robinson, S.F.Said, Madeleine Thien, Salley Vickers, John Wood and Markus Zusak'This story, like so many stories, begins with a gift. The gift, like so many gifts, was a book...' So begins the essay by Robert Macfarlane that inspired this collection. In this cornucopia of an anthology, you will find essays by some of the world's most beloved novelists, nonfiction writers, essayists and poets. 'You will see books taking flight in flocks, migrating around the world, landing in people's hearts and changing them for a day or a year or a lifetime. 'You will see books sparking wonder or anger; throwing open windows into other languages, other cultures, other minds; causing people to fall in love or to fight for what is right. 'And more than anything, over and over again, you will see books and words being given, received and read - and in turn prompting further generosity.' Published to coincide with the 20th anniversary of global literacy non-profit, Room to Read, The Gifts of Reading forms inspiring, unforgettable, irresistible proof of the power and necessity of books and reading.Inspired by Robert Macfarlane Curated by Jennie Orchard

Longlisted for the 2015 IMPAC Dublin Literary AwardJimmy Rabbitte is back. The man who invented the Commitments back in the eighties is now forty-seven, with a loving wife, four kids ... He isnâ??t dying, he thinks, but he might be. Jimmy still loves his music, and he still loves to hustle.

Each is concerned with loss in different ways - of their place in the world, of power, virility, love - of the boom days and the Celtic Tiger. Brilliantly observed, funny and moving, the stories in Bullfighting present a new vision of contemporary Ireland, of its woes and triumphs.

We last saw Henry Smart, his leg severed in an accident with a railway boxcar, crawl into the Utah desert to die - only to be discovered by John Ford, who's there shooting his latest Western.

WINNER OF THE BOOKER PRIZE 1993Paddy Clarke is ten years old. Paddy Clarke's heroes are Father Damien (and the lepers), Geronimo and George Best. Paddy Clarke loves his Ma and Da, but it seems like they don't love each other, and Paddy wants to understand, but can't. See also: Cal by Bernard MacLaverty

Ten years on from The Woman Who Walked into Doors, Booker Prize-winning author, Roddy Doyle, returns to one of his greatest characters, Paula Spencer. Paula Spencer is turning forty-eight, and hasnâ??t had a drink for four months and five days.

When we first met Paula Spencer - in The Woman Who Walked into Doors - she was thirty-nine, recently widowed, an alcoholic struggling to hold her family together.

"This unflinching novel chronicles a woman's relationship with a violent man in a way that brings fresh insight to the subject . . . engaging and uplifting." --O, The Oprah Magazine From Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of The Women Behind the Door, the heartrending origin story of Paula Spencer, a brave and tenacious housewife Paula Spencer is a thirty-nine-year-old mother of four, a blue-collar worker, an alcoholic in recovery--or maybe not. Then one day a police officer knocks on her door. From the look on his face, she can tell it's not good news. His revelation takes Paula back to the past, to her contented childhood, the audacity she learned as a teenager, the exhilaration of her romance with her husband Charlo, and the violent marriage to him that left her powerless. Now, as she struggles to reclaim her dignity from the abuse that left her with scars and a worsening drinking problem, this new revelation threatens to shatter the fragile peace she's built for herself and drag her back down the dark paths she thought she'd left behind. Capturing both her vulnerability and strength, Roddy Doyle gives Paula a voice that is singular and real, the story of an ordinary woman whose extraordinary character will stay with you long after this novel and into the subsequent books in his trilogy, Paula Spencer and The Women Behind the Door.

A one-volume edition of the celebrated trio of novels about the Rabbitte family, from the Booker Prize-winning author of Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha The Barrytown Trilogy gathers Roddy's Doyle's first three novels into one volume: The Commitments, one of the funniest rock'n'roll novels ever written, about a group of aspiring musicians on a mission to bring soul to Dublin; The Snapper, about the progression of twenty-year-old Sharon Rabbitte's pregnancy on her family; and The Van, a finalist for the Booker Prize, a tender and hilarious tale of male friendship, midlife crisis, and family life, set during the heady days of Ireland's brief, euphoric triumphs in the 1990 World Cup.

Barrytown, Dublin, is humming with speculation. For Sharon Rabbitte is pregnant. After the soccer club Christmas do, only she knows the father of her "snapper". But she's not telling - even though her father has taken a remarkably lively interest in this sudden, but obvious, family crisis.

That is, until Bimbo finds a dilapidated 'chipper van' and the pair decide to go into business... By the bestselling author of The Commitments and The Snapper, The Van is a tender tale of male friendship, swimming in grease and stained with ketchup.

‘A brilliant, one-of-a-kind writer’ DAVID NICHOLLSAt sixty-six, Paula Spencer – mother, grandmother, widow, survivor – is finally living her life.A job at the dry cleaners she enjoys, a man – Joe – with whom she shares what she wants, friends who see her for who she is, and four grown children. Despite its ghosts, Paula has started to push her past aside.That is until Paula’s eldest, Nicola, turns up on her doorstep. Independent, a loving wife and mother, “a success” – Nicola is suddenly determined to leave it all behind.Over the next few days, as Nicola gradually confides in Paula the secret that unleashed this moment of crisis, they find themselves embracing the bruised but beautiful symmetry of what each means to the other.‘His best yet…full of energy and life’ OBSERVER‘Reading [Paula Spencer’s] voice for the first time sent a pang of recognition through me, followed by love’ ANNE ENRIGHT‘Storytelling genius’ i PAPERA GUARDIAN BOOK OF THE YEARSHORTLISTED FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARDS NOVEL OF THE YEAR 2024