Frank Delaney

A Novel

Ireland 

In the summer of 1922, young American priest Robert Shannon arrives in Ireland in search of his soul and demoralized by the corruption he encountered in the Boston Archdiocese, and finds himself facing the dangers of Ireland's civil war.

Shannon

Charles O'Brien falls in love with April Burke, a beautiful, much younger Englishwoman, when he offers to help her reclaim and restore her family's Irish estate, in a saga set against the Irish struggle to regain land taken from them by England's coloniza

Tipperary

After the slaughter of his girlfriend by an unknown assassin, Nicholas Newman wants only to start afresh. However, when a link is made between killings across Europe, he reluctantly agrees to help the police again. When attempts are made on his life, he realizes his nightmare has only just begun.

The Amethysts

A Guide to the Dublin of Ulysses

James Joyce's Odyssey

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Frank Delaney's The Last Storyteller. In the summer of 1943, as World War II rages on, Ben MacCarthy is haunted by the disappearance of his wife, the actress Venetia Kelly. Searching for purpose by collecting stories for the Irish Folklore Commission, he travels to a remote seaside cottage to profile the enigmatic Miss Kate Begley, the Matchmaker of Kenmare. Ben is immediately captivated by her, and a powerful friendship is forged. But when Charles Miller, a handsome American military intelligence officer, arrives on the scene, Miss Begley looks to make a match for herself. Miller needs a favor, but it will be dangerous. Under the cover of their neutrality as Irish citizens, Miss Begley and Ben travel to London and effectively operate as spies. As they are drawn more deeply and painfully into the conflict, both discover the perils of neutrality—in both love and war. Steeped in colorful history, The Matchmaker of Kenmare is a lush and surprising novel, rich as myth, tense as a thriller, and, like all grand tales, harrowing, sometimes hilarious, and heartbreaking.

A Novel of Ireland

The Matchmaker of Kenmare

“Riveting . . . Readers will quickly warm to [Frank] Delaney’s vividly described Ireland of the 1950s, its fully realized inhabitants, and the dynamic political and personal relationships that make for a remarkable story.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “If we’re to live good lives, we have to tell ourselves our own story. In a good way.” So says Ben MacCarthy’s beloved mentor, and it is this fateful advice that will guide Ben through the tumultuous events of Ireland in 1956. The national mood is downtrodden; poverty, corruption, and an armed rebellion rattle the countryside; and although Ben wants no part of the insurrection, he unknowingly falls in with an IRA sympathizer. Yet despite his perilous circumstances, all he can think about is finding his former wife and true love, Venetia Kelly, who after many years has returned to Ireland with her brutish new husband, a popular stage performer. Determined not to lose Venetia again, Ben calls upon every bit of his passion and courage to win her back, while finally reconciling his violent past with his hopes for a bright future. Brimming with fascinating Irish history, daring intrigue, and the drama of legendary love, The Last Storyteller is an unforgettable novel as richly textured and inspiring as Ireland itself. “A colorful, leisurely tale, with dark moments as well as humor and grace.”—The Star-Ledger “A magical tale [that] weaves in a jackpot of Irish myths.”—Bookreporter “Character-rich and dramatic.”—Library Journal

The Last Storyteller

BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Frank Delaney's The Matchmaker of Kenmare. January 1932: Ben MacCarthy and his father watch a vagabond variety revue making a stop in the Irish countryside. After a two-hour kaleidoscope of low comedy, juggling, tumbling, and other entertainments, Ben’s father, mesmerized by Venetia Kelly, the troupe’s magnetic headliner, makes a fateful decision: to abandon his family and set off on the road with Miss Kelly and her caravan. Ben’s mother, shattered by the desertion, exhorts, “Find him and bring him back,” thereby sending the boy on a Homeric voyage into manhood. Interweaving a host of unforgettable creations—“King” Kelly, Venetia’s violent, Mephistophelean grandfather; Sarah Kelly, Venetia’s mysterious, amoral mother; and even a truth-telling ventriloquist’s dummy named Blarney—Frank Delaney unfurls a splendid narrative that spans half the world and a tumultuous decade.

Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show

Jim Hawkins, the cabin-boy hero of Treasure Island, has grown up. With his fortune from the South Seas, he has expanded and improved the family inn, the old Admiral Benbow, on the coast of Somerset, where, from behind the bar, he regales travelers with tales of Long John Silver, Ben Gunn, Billy Bones, and the parrot that shrieks "pieces of eight, pieces of eight" - Cap'n Flint. Then one day, the mail coach deposits a beautiful stranger and her young son, and asks Jim to help her find somebody - Joseph Tait, one of the pirates they left behind on Treasure Island.

Jim Hawkins and the Curse of Treasure Island

The concluding story in Frank Delaney's quintet of novels about 20th-century Ireland.

The Bell Walk

Legends of the Celts

Living in 1950s Ireland, the Kane girls are innocent and affectionate young women. Then, into their lives comes Dennis Sykes, a man with a secret history of emotional mayhem and scandal. The Kane girls have no defences against this sexual terrorist. This is the sequel to The Sins of the Mothers.

A Stranger in Their Midst

Belle, a mill-girl in her twenties, from a poor and religiously oppressive Presbyterian terraced household in 1940s Belfast, falls in love with Gene, a Catholic from the South.

Telling the Pictures

This convenient eBook package contains three novels of Ireland from New York Times bestselling author Frank Delaney: · Tipperary · Shannon · Venetia Kelly’s Traveling Show Tipperary: “My wooing began in passion, was defined by violence and circumscribed by land; all these elements molded my soul.” So writes Charles O’Brien, the unforgettable hero of bestselling author Frank Delaney’s extraordinary new novel–a sweeping epic of obsession, profound devotion, and compelling history involving a turbulent era that would shape modern Ireland. Shannon: In the summer of 1922, Robert Shannon, a Marine chaplain and a young American hero of the Great War, lands in Ireland. He still suffers from shell shock, and his mentor hopes that a journey Robert had always wanted to make—to find his family roots along the banks of the River Shannon—will restore his equilibrium and his vocation. But there is more to the story: On his return from the war, Robert had witnessed startling corruption in the Archdiocese of Boston. He has been sent to Ireland to secure his silence—permanently. As Robert faces the dangers of a strife-torn Ireland roiling in civil war, the nation’s myths and people, its beliefs and traditions, unfurl healingly before him. And the River Shannon gives comfort to the young man who is inspired by the words of his mentor: “Find your soul and you’ll live.” Venetia Kelly’s Traveling Show: “She sprang from the womb and waved to the crowd. Then smiled and took a bow.” And so we first meet Venetia Kelly, the beguiling actress at the center of this new, spellbinding, and epic novel by Frank Delaney, the bestselling author of Ireland and Shannon. Teeming with intrigue, pathos, and humor, Venetia Kelly’s Traveling Show explores two of Ireland’s great national passions: theater and politics. Writing with his signature mastery and lyrical prose, Frank Delaney once again delivers an unforgettable story as big and boisterous as the people and events it chronicles.

Tipperary, Shannon, Venetia Kelly's Traveling Show

Frank Delaney's The Ireland Novels 3-Book Bundle

“HEAVEN HELP THE SAILOR ON A NIGHT LIKE THIS.” –old folk prayer In late December 1951, laden with passengers and nearly forty metric tons of cargo, the freighter S.S. Flying Enterprise steamed westward from Europe toward America. A few days into the voyage, she hit the eye of a ferocious storm. Force 12 winds tossed men about like playthings and turned drops of freezing Atlantic foam into icy missiles. When, in the space of twenty-eight hours, the ship was slammed by two rogue waves–solid walls of water more than sixty feet high–the impacts cracked the decks and hull almost down to the waterline, threw the vessel over on her side, and thrust all on board into terror. Flying Enterprise’s captain, Kurt Carlsen, a seaman of rare ability and valor, mustered all hands to patch the cracks and then try to right the ship. When these efforts came to naught, he helped transfer, across waves forty feet high, the passengers and the entire crew to lifeboats sent from nearby ships. Then, for reasons both professional and intensely personal, and to the amazement of the world, Carlsen defied all requests and entreaties to abandon ship. Instead, for the next two weeks, he fought to bring Flying Enterprise and her cargo to port. His heroic endeavor became the world’s biggest news. In a narrative as dramatic as the ocean’s fury, acclaimed bestselling author Frank Delaney tells, for the first time, the full story of this unmatched bravery and endurance at sea. We meet the devoted family whose well-being and safety impelled Carlsen to stay with his ship. And we read of Flying Enterprise’s buccaneering owner, the fearless and unorthodox Hans Isbrandtsen, who played a crucial role in Kurt Carlsen’s fate. Drawing on historical documents and contemporary accounts and on exclusive interviews with Carlsen’s family, Delaney opens a window into the world of the merchant marine. With deep affection–and respect–for the weather and all that goes with it, he places us in the heart of the storm, a “biblical tempest” of unimaginable power. He illuminates the bravery and ingenuity of Carlsen and the extraordinary courage that the thirty-seven-year-old captain inspired in his stalwart crew. This is a gripping, absorbing narrative that highlights one man’s outstanding fortitude and heroic sense of duty. “One of the great sea stories of the twentieth century… [a] surefire nautical crowd-pleaser.” --Booklist é (starred review) “Frank Delaney has written a completely absorbing, thrilling and inspirational account of a disaster at sea that occasioned heroism of the first order. In the hands of a gifted storyteller, the ‘simple courage’ of the ship’s captain and the young radio man who risked their lives to bring a mortally wounded ship to port reveals the essence and power of all true courage– a stubborn devotion to the things we love.” –Senator John McCain

A True Story of Peril on the Sea

Simple Courage

Ann has always believed she was born into the wrong family - the only child of Irish nouveau riche parents whose loudness she hates. To exact revenge they manoeuvre her into an abusive marriage with her father's brutish business manager Joey. But at her wedding reception she is observed by an English journalist, Christopher Hunter.

Desire and Pursuit

The Celts

The Sins of the Mothers

Jorge Lewinski

Re-creates Joyce's Dublin of the early twentieth century, comparing it with the modern city, with detailed maps that follow the routes of the principal charachers of "Ulysses" in their travels around Dublin

Frank Delaney

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