On 2 September 1845, the convict ship Tasmania left Kingstown Harbour for Van Diemen's Land with 138 female convicts and their 35 children. On 3 December, the ship arrived into Hobart Town. While this book looks at the lives of all the women aboard, it focuses on two women in particular: Eliza Davis, who was transported from Wicklow Gaol for life for infanticide, having had her sentence commuted from death, and Margaret Butler, sentenced to seven years' transportation for stealing potatoes in Carlow. Using original records, this study reveals the reality of transportation, together with the legacy left by these women in Tasmania and beyond, and shows that perhaps, for some, this Draconian punishment was, in fact, a life-saving measure.

When Anne Marie McAleese invited birding expert Dot Blakely on to her radio show, Your Place and Mine, she had no idea that it would mark the beginning of an enduring friendship and a life-changing birding odyssey. For the next two decades, the pair travelled all over Northern Ireland, exploring the wonderful world of birds and the glorious and varied landscapes they inhabit. In Homebirds, Anne Marie and Dot tell the inspiring and often funny story of their adventures. In all weathers, they make their way around parks and loughs, up hills and along coastlines, through villages and towns, meeting a cast of oystercatchers, blackcaps, fulmars, pied wagtails, buzzards, blue tits, herons, brent geese and many more. Illustrated with more than 100 images, Homebirds is packed with information on how to identify birds and attract them to your garden, and includes fascinating facts about the places visited. Above all, Homebirds is a celebration of the wonders of nature on our doorstep and a call for us all to get out and enjoy them.

The First World War was the biggest conflict in Irish history. More men served and more men died than in all the wars before or since that the Irish fought in. Often forgotten at home and written out of Irish history, the Irish soldiers and their regiments found themselves more honoured in foreign fields. From the first shot monument in Mons to the plaque to the Royal Irish Lancers who liberated the town on Armistice Day 1918, Ronan McGreevy takes a tour of the Western Front. At a time when Ireland is revisiting its history and its place in the world, McGreevy looks at those places where the Irish made their mark and are remembered in the monuments, cemeteries and landscapes of France and Flanders.

The groundbreaking two-term President of Ireland tells the stories of her life When a young Mary McAleese told a priest that she planned to become a lawyer, the priest dismissed the idea: she knew no one in the law, and she was female. The reality of what she went on to achieve - despite those obstacles, and despite a sectarian attack that forced her family to flee their home - is even more improbable. In this luminous memoir, Mary McAleese traces that astonishing arc: from the tight streets of north Belfast, to a professorship in Dublin while still in her twenties, behind-the-scenes work on the peace process, and two triumphant terms as President of Ireland. She writes of her encounters with prime ministers, popes and royalty with the same easy candour and intimacy with which she describes her childhood. And her account of the latest act in her remarkable career - quietly pursuing a doctorate, and loudly opposing the misogyny of the Catholic Church - is inspiring. Here's the Story is warm, witty, often surprising and relentlessly fascinating: an extraordinarily intimate memoir by one of the most remarkable public figures of our time. _______________ 'A fascinating story and well worth the read' Irish Times 'Riveting ... A fiercely urgent reminder to the world - and the Government - that peace must never be sacrificed for politics' Telegraph 'Excellent' Matt Cooper, Irish Daily Mail 'I was enthralled and absorbed by this memoir' Sunday Independent 'What an incredible life lived by an outstanding role model. I ate this book up' Sinead Moriarty 'Full of conviction and isn't afraid of plain speaking ... Priests, popes, paramilitaries and Ian Paisley are all held to account' Herald Scotland '[A] chatty, provocative and embraceable biography' RTE Guide

One hundred years ago, during Easter Week, 1916, rebel Irish leaders and their followers staged an armed uprising in the city of Dublin in an attempt to overthrow British rule and create an autonomous Irish republic. One week later, their rebellion ruthlessly quashed by British forces, the surviving insurgents were jailed and many of their leaders quickly executed. Though their rebellion had failed, their actions galvanized a growing population of sympathizers who would, in years to come, succeed in establishing an independent Irish state. Documentary writer, producer, and scholar Briona Nic Dhiarmada has seized the occasion of the centenary of the Irish Rising to reassess this event and its historical significance. Her book explores the crucial role of Irish Americans in both the lead-up to and the aftermath of the events in Dublin and places the Irish Rising in its European and global context, as an expression of the anti-colonialism that found its full voice in the wake of the First World War. The 1916 Irish Rebellion includes a historical narrative; a lavish spread of contemporary images and photographs; and a rich selection of sidebar quotations from contemporary documents, prisoners' statements, and other eyewitness accounts to capture the experiences of nationalists and unionists, Irish rebels and British soldiers, and Irish Americans during the turbulent events of Easter Week, 1916. The 1916 Irish Rebellion is the companion book to a three-part documentary series to be broadcast worldwide in 2016, narrated by Liam Neeson.