British & Irish History

J. P. Mallory interrogates what he calls the 'Irish Dreamtime': the native Irish retelling of their own origins, as related by medieval manuscripts. He attempts to explore the reality of...

As a young man, James Joyce rejected his country and its religion, but went on to recreate the Dublin of his youth in his fiction. Ulysses was initially banned in...

'I, the poet William Yeats, | With old mill boards and sea-green slates, | And smithy work from the Gort forge, | Restored this tower for my wife George; |...

The acclaimed first volume of this definitive biography of W. B. Yeats left him in his fiftieth year, at a cross-roads in his life. The subsequent quarter-century surveyed in The...

My Left Foot is Christy Brown's inspirational story of his early life, his battle against the restraints of cerebral palsy and his determination to learn to read, write, and paint,...

'Magnificent.' Irish Times'Much to savour.' The Times'An event in Irish culture.' TLSThe collected letters of John McGahern, 'one of the greatest writers of our era' (Hilary Mantel) and 'the most...

Since the success of "Philadelphia, Here I Come!" in 1964, Brian Friel has written over twenty plays, successively confirming his reputation as a major dramatist of the twentieth century. But...

A spirited and essential companion to Orwell and his works, covering all the novels and major essays An intellectual who hated intellectuals, a socialist who didn't trust the state-our foremost...

Uncovering the hidden love triangle between novelist Elizabeth Bowen and the author's grandparents - the critically acclaimed biography with never-before-seen letters detailing the affair. For readers who were swept up...

"Penguin Illustrated Lives" is a series of photographic biographies that offers a fresh, intimate portrait of some of our favourite writers. An incisive, lively text is accompanied by over 100...

Sean O' Casey's Irish plays, among them "Juno and the Paycock", arguably place him amongst the great playwrights of the 20th century. This book explores the myth of O'Casey's slum...

This is an investigation of Yeats's experiments with the media of language and dance in his plays. He was allied to other artists of the 1890s in his fascination with...

Connell and Marianne grow up in the same small town in rural Ireland. The similarities end there; they are from very different worlds. When they both earn places at Trinity...