LIFE WITHOUT CHILDREN

BULLFIGHTING

The men in Bullfighting are each concerned with loss in different ways – of their place in their world, of power, virility, love – of the boom days and the Celtic Tiger. ‘The stories, his memories, were wearing out’ the narrator of the title story thinks, ‘and there was nothing new replacing them.’ The stories move from classrooms to graveyards, local pubs to bullrings; featuring an array of men at their working day and at rest, taking stock and reliving past glories. In the first, ‘Recuperation’, a man sets off for a prescribed walk around his neighbourhood, the sights triggering memories and recollections of his wife, his children, and his younger days. In ‘Animals’, George remembers caring for his children’s many pets, his efforts to spare them grief when they die or disappear, looking, in the eyes of his wife, like a hero, like ‘your man from ER’. But now his kids are reared and he’s unemployed, and he’s slowly getting used to that. ‘Suffer, your man Krugman said, when he was asked how Ireland should deal with the next 10 years. Well, this is George, suffering.’ Brilliantly observed, funny and moving, the stories in Bullfighting present a new vision of contemporary Ireland, of its woes and triumphs, and of the Irish middle-aged male confronting new realities. It is a masterful new collection from one of the country’s greatest writers.

THE COMMITMENTS

Barrytown, Dublin, has something to sing about. The Commitments are spreading the gospel of the soul. Ably managed by Jimmy Rabbitte, brilliantly coached by Joey 'The Lips' Fagan, their twin assault on Motown and Barrytown takes them by leaps and bounds from the parish hall to the steps of the studio door. But can The Commitments live up to their name?

THE GIGGLER TREATMENT

Who are the Gigglers? The Gigglers look after children and if any adults are mean to children and send them to bed without any tea or make them wear clothes that they hate, they get the Giggler Treatment!

PADDY CLARKE HA HA HA

Paddy Clarke is ten in 1968 and loves George Best, Geronimo and the smell of his hot water bottle. He hates zoos, kissing and boys from the Corporation houses and his brother. He knows that his mother is crying, that Da leaves the house in silence, but he doesn't know why... Man Booker Prize Winner.

THE SNAPPER

Meet the Rabbitte family, a motley bunch of loveable ne'er-do-wells whose everyday purgatory is rich with hangovers and dirty dishes. When the older sister announces her pregnancy, the family are forced to rally together and discover the strangeness of intimacy. But the question remains: which friend of the family is the father of Sharon's child?

THE VAN

Jimmy Rabbitte and his best friend Bimbo are unemployed and rapidly running out of money. The two old friends are out of luck and out of options. That is, until Bimbo finds a dilapidated 'chipper van' and the pair decide to go into business...