Written by playwrights working in the north and south of Ireland, these plays trace the restless urban ambition in contemporary Irish drama to turn the past on its head and look back at the land with scepticism and sometimes a rough, rude glee.

Set in Ireland, this book tells the story of teenage hero Francie Brady. Things begin to fall apart after his mother's suicide - when he is consumed with fury and commits a horrible crime. Committed to an asylum, it is only here that he finally achieves peace. Shortlisted for the 1992 Booker Prize.

The city of William Blake and Jack the Ripper; the Bow Street Runners and The Krays; Bedlam and Newgate; the Pistols and the Clash - London is the ancient capital of crime. This is an A-Z of what lies beneath the official city maps. It takes you on a tour from the mythic East End; to the bohemian West.

A compelling, disturbing and darkly funny new novel from the author of Breakfast on Pluto, The Butcher Boy and Winterwood

Malachy Dudgeon has escaped the misery and madness of his childhood home and landed a job in the most famous school in Dublin. The headmaster, Raphael Bell, has overcome his own tragedies to forge a model career, but when Malachy Dudgeon and Raphael Bell meet, they become inextricably engaged in a macabre relationship which proves fatal.

Once, in Kilburn, married to the sugar-lipped Catherine, and sharing his daughter Immy's passion for My Little Pony , with its enchanted kingdom of Winterwood, Redmond was happy. But then, infidelity, betrayal and the 'scary things' from which he would protect his daughter steal into the magic kingdom, and the bad things begin to happen.

Gogol's 'The Squabble' is a work of tragicomedy. In it, Gogol ridicules the Ukrainian passion for litigation and reveals life as something really rather absurd.

Follows the exploits of Patrick Pussy Braden, who was abandoned as a baby in his small Irish hometown and aware from a very early age that he is different. Patrick survives this harsh environment with the aid of his wit, charm and a sweet refusal to let anyone or anything change who he is.

Originally published in 1998. Paddy Pussy is a juvenile transvestite from the small town of Tyreelin. A question is raised whether he is just a transvestite who longs to settle down in a loving relationship or whether he is a cunningly disguised IRA bomber ready to wreak destruction and death.

A compelling, disturbing and darkly funny new novel from the author of Breakfast on Pluto, The Butcher Boy and Winterwood

Married to the sugar-lipped Catherine and sharing his daughter Immy's passion for the enchanted kingdom of winterwood, Redmond Hatch was happy. But then infidelity, betrayal and the 'scary things' from which he would protect his daughter steal into the magic kingdom, and bad things begin to happen. Now Redmond prowls the barren outlands alone.

Once, near Dublin, Redmond was in heaven, married to the sugar-lipped Catherine, and father to lovely daughter Immy. But later, Red did something. And it could all never be like that again. Red meets Auld Pappie Ned, a fiddler and teller of tales with honeyed words who seems to have the authentic spirit of 'the old valley'.