BOOKS: Conor W. O’Brien travels the country to tell the stories of amazing lost wildlife …
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STRONGER
What Didn’t Kill Me, Made MeNicola Hanney
New compact edition of the #1 bestselling memoir
In 2016, against all odds, Nicola Hanney survived a terminal cancer diagnosis and decided to live life to the full. When she matched with Garda Paul Moody on a dating app, she thought her dreams had come true, but could never have imagined she would be plunged into another nightmare: a four-year campaign of violence and coercive control at his hands.
Despite being told she would never conceive due to the toll cancer had taken on her body, Nicola beat the odds a second time and became pregnant to Moody. Trapped in an unrelenting cycle of abuse, the baby she had always wished for gave Nicola newfound hope for the future. Then, midway through her pregnancy, she found a lump in her breast. The cancer was back.
In Stronger, Nicola charts her extraordinary journey through unimaginable abuse and aggressive, recurring illness. Revealing the insidious nature of coercive control, she recounts how Moody manipulated her and threatened her loved ones to keep her compliant.
Throughout it all, Nicola’s resilience never wavered. She proved herself stronger than the disease that threatened to take her life. Stronger than the man who tried to crush her spirit. Stronger than the bad hand she was dealt.
Nicola Hanney is a first-time author from Dublin. In 2023 she gave up her anonymity to participate in RTÉ documentary Taking Back Control, describing the horrific abuse she suffered at the hands of disgraced Garda Paul Moody while pregnant and fighting cancer. By sharing her story, Nicola hopes to empower victims and shed light on the early signs of abuse.
COMING SOON
AN ACCIDENTAL VILLAIN
Sir Hugh Tudor, Churchill’s Enforcer in Revolutionary IrelandLinden MacIntyre
A gripping deep-dive into the legacy of Sir Hugh Tudor, Churchill’s trusted military man who oversaw the violent repression of Irish revolutionaries through the notorious Black and Tans.
After distinguishing himself on the battlefields of the First World War, Major General Sir Hugh Tudor was called on to serve in a very different kind of conflict – one fought in the Irish streets and countryside against an enemy determined to resist British colonial authority to the death. Soon he was directing a police force waging a brutal campaign, one he was determined to win at all costs, including utilising police death squads and inflicting brutal reprisals against the IRA and local communities.
Tudor left few traces of his time in Ireland. No diary or letters explain his record as commander of the notorious Black and Tans or justify his role in Bloody Sunday, November 21, 1920. And why did a man knighted for his efforts in Ireland leave his family and homeland in 1925, moving across the sea to Newfoundland?
In An Accidental Villain, Linden MacIntyre delivers a fascinating account of how events can bring a man to the point where he acts against his own training, principles and inclination in the service of a cause – and ends up on a long journey towards personal oblivion.Paperback • €19.99|£17.99 • 360 pages • 226mm x 153mm • 9781785375750
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Linden MacIntyre is an award-winning author and journalist. His novels – including The Bishop’s Man, which won the Scotiabank Giller Prize – have been national bestsellers. His boyhood memoir, Causeway, won the Edna Staebler and Evelyn Richardson Awards. A celebrated broadcaster, MacIntyre spent 24 years co-hosting The Fifth Estate, earning ten Gemini awards. He lives in Toronto with his wife, author Carol Off.
THE LIVING AND THE DEAD
Tales of Loss and Rebirth from Irish NatureConor W. O’Brien
Acclaimed wildlife author Conor W. O’Brien travels the country in search of Ireland’s extinct wildlife and our greatest conservation success stories.
Ireland is a land replete with natural wonders, but we live in an age when our native wildlife is under threat like never before. Centuries of hunting and habitat loss have already wiped out some of our most iconic species, from the once-feared grey wolf to the flightless great auk – Ireland’s very own ‘penguin’.
In The Living and the Dead, acclaimed writer Conor W. O’Brien travels the country to tell the stories of our amazing lost wildlife, from the mighty sturgeon to the minuscule mountain ringlet butterfly. He reveals the tragedies behind their demise and the lessons they impart for today’s conservationists. For across the country, passionate people are fighting to protect endangered species and reintroduce those once lost. The return of creatures long gone, like the common crane and great spotted woodpecker, are celebrated in these pages. Such comebacks offer a vision of a return to a wilder Ireland, one in which humans and nature thrive in a land where eagles fly again.
Conor W. O’Brien is a writer and photographer with a lifelong interest in the natural world. His work has been published in Ireland’s Own, Irish Wildlife magazine and Wings, the official publication of Birdwatch Ireland. Conor’s first book, Ireland Through Birds: Journeys in Search of a Wild Nation, was shortlisted for Best Irish-Published Book at the 2019 An Post Irish Book Awards. His second book, Life in Ireland: A Short History of a Long Time, was published in 2021. Conor is a board member at Birdwatch Ireland.
BEING EMMA
Living My Best Life with Butterfly SkinEmma Fogarty
Foreword by Colin Farrell
Stunning new memoir from Emma Fogarty, the oldest living Irish person with Epidermolysis Bullosa, a painful disease which makes the skin as fragile as a butterfly’s wing.
Born with Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB), a rare and excruciatingly painful condition that makes her skin as fragile as butterfly wings, Emma Fogarty was not expected to survive infancy. Today, at 41 years of age, she is the oldest living Irish person with the condition, continuing to defy the odds with extraordinary strength, resilience and remarkable achievements.
However, every accomplishment Emma makes comes with its own set of obstacles. EB is a cruel disease which causes her skin to blister and tear at the slightest touch. She can no longer walk, and she lost the use of her fingers when they fused together. Her bandages need to be changed every two days, an agonising process which takes hours. Emma’s daily life is a battle against debilitating pain, yet she embraces every moment with fierce positivity and determination.
In 2024, she took part in the Dublin Marathon alongside her close friend Colin Farrell to mark her 40th birthday, raising over €1 million for DEBRA Ireland. Emma’s skin may be fragile, but her spirit is unbreakable – shattering every expectation and lighting the way for everyone who dares to dream beyond their circumstances.
