Billy O'Callaghan Livres

The breathtaking short story collection from the Costa-shortlisted Irish writerThree gunshots on the Irish border define the course of a young man's life;

*THE #3 IRISH BESTSELLER* *A SINÉAD & RICK 'MUST READS' PICK* An unforgettable tale of love, abandonment, hunger and redemption, from a rising star of Irish fiction 'O'Callaghan is one of our finest writers . . . and this is his best work yet' JOHN BANVILLE ***** At just sixteen, Nancy leaves the small island of Cape Clear for the mainland, the only member of her family to survive the effects of the Great Famine. Finding work in a grand house on the edge of Cork City, she is irrepressibly drawn to the charismatic gardener Michael Egan, sparking a love affair and a devastating chain of events that continues to unfold over three generations. Spanning more than a century, Life Sentences is the unforgettable journey of a family hungry for redemption, and determined against all odds to be free. This sweeping story of one family's fight for survival goes on making the heart lurch long after the final page, and confirms Billy O'Callaghan as one of the finest living Irish writers. ***** 'A lovely, piercing book' SEBASTIAN BARRY 'Stops you in your tracks so you can savour its utter beauty' ANNE GRIFFIN 'Momentous and epic storytelling' BERNARD MACLAVERTY 'So good and true it feels almost magical' SADIE JONES 'Eminently readable . . . My book of the year so far' RYAN TUBRIDY

Perched on an incline, with the land spilling down to a glittering sea, sits a ruined cottage. It calls to Maggie Turner, who is running from her own demons. But this house has a long, grim history, and has known hard living and far too much death. In some places, some things are better left undisturbed. A modern ghost story by a masterful writer.

1980s Cork. Jack Shine is sorting through his mother's belongings when he discovers a shoe box full of love letters and newspaper clippings. Jack's mother, Rebekah, was a young woman when the Second World War broke out, and she came to Cork alone as a Jewish refugee from Vienna. She died when Jack was young, and he never learned of his father's identity. So, who wrote these love letters to Rebekah and why did she keep newspaper clippings about a famous Austrian footballer player? Who was 'The Paper Man'? As Jack begins to uncover the story of his mother's life, he is transported to 1930s Vienna, a bustling, cosmopolitan city on the brink of war. At the heart of the action is Matthias Sindelar, one of the most famous footballers in the world, known to all as 'The Paper Man' because of his effortless weave across the pitch. When Sindelar unexpectedly meets Rebekah, a young woman from a small town, both of their lives are changed forever. But as war looms, they must accept that their survival will tear them apart. Based on real people and true events, The Paper Man is the story of twentieth-century Europe, the Holocaust, the cost of fame, and love against the odds. It is a story that will take Jack far from Cork and all the way back to Vienna, and towards The Paper Man.

And so, after half a lifetime spent in secret, certain long-avoided facts need to be faced, consequences examined, decisions made, and - perhaps - chances finally taken.