Roddy Doyle

A collection of stories set in modern Ireland explores a theme of loss, from a man who remembers his early family life while taking daily prescribed walks to a father who considers the impact of his children's pets.

After being saved from death by none other than Henry Fonda and engaging in a brief but ill-fated collaboration with legendary director John Ford, Irish rebel Henry Smart ends up settling into a quiet life in a village north of Dublin, where he finds work as a caretaker for a boys' school and takes up with a widow O'Kelly (who may be his long-disappeared wife). But a political bombing in Dublin in 1974 puts him in the spotlight, and suddenly the secret...

Life as seen through the eyes of a ten-year-old Irish boy, Patrick Clarke, is a poignant voyage through a bewildering, ever-changing world of family, friends, dreams, and growing up.

Paula Spencer marries sexy Charlo in a haze of love and prepares for a happy life, only to have it snatched from her when her husband embarks on a seventeen-year campaign of abuse that ends only when Paula decides she has had enough and takes action.

Kellie Harrington grew up in Dublin's north inner city and was in danger of going down the wrong path in life before she discovered boxing. Her local boxing club was all-male and initially wouldn't let her join, but she persisted. Her development into an elite boxer was confirmed with medals at the 2016 and 2018 world championships, and crowned with a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Meanwhile, Kellie won the hearts of the Irish public through...

A collection of eight stories with a common thread: someone who lives in Ireland meets someone who has come to live there.

"Jimmy Rabbitte Sr. is unemployed, spending his days alone and miserable. When his best friend, Bimbo, also gets laid off, they keep busy by being miserable together. Things seem to look up when they buy a decrepit fish-and-chip van and go into business, selling cheap grub to the drunk and the hungry, and keeping one step ahead of the environmental health officers."

As Irish teenager Gráinne anxiously prepares for a reunion with her mother, who abandoned the family years before, Gráinne's half-brothers and their mother take a dogsledding vacation in Finland.

Doyle's comic novels, The Commitments, The Snapper and The Van, depict the daily life and times of the Rabbitte family in working-class Dublin.

Siobhán and her father continue to feel sad in the years following the death of Siobhán's mother, until Siobhán follows the advice of a mysterious woman.