John B. Keane

The story of Big Maggie Polpin and her attempts to keep her family together after the death of her husband is an enduring theatre favourite. The dialogue crackles with hilarious, caustic putdowns as the indomitable Maggie deals with her feckless family and unwanted suitors. Everyone wants a part of Big Maggie and her property but she has other ideas.

Big Maggie

A story of greed, sex and bitterness, of a scheming matchmaker and a resentful woman forcing a beautiful young girl to marry an old man for money.

A Play in Two Acts

Sive

Irish Short Stories

In search of higher prices for his herd, Mark Doran leads thirteen men and two hundred cattle on a drive across rural Ireland during World War II

A Novel

Durango

A Drama in Two Acts

The Bodhran Makers

From highwaymen to healing waters and from brewerys to bridges, not to mention lots of castles, cathedrals, abbeys, towers, passage tombs and priories, this collection of fascinating stories, which started as a regular series in the 'Kilkenny People', details the lore and landmarks of County Kilkenny from top to bottom. Read the fascinating stories of the thatched villages of South Kilkenny, of Ballyspellan Spa, of the trio of treasures at Kilree, of Dunmore Cave and, in the city itself, of Rothe House and the Bishop's Palace. You can also learn all about Cushendale Woollen Mills, Fiddown Nature Reserve and the burial place of King Heremon. Locals and visitors alike will find plenty of interest in this quirky collection.

Hidden Kilkenny

This bountiful collection of more than fifty tales by one of Ireland’s liveliest and most popular writers offers holiday charm and Gaelic humor by the Christmas stockingful. Drawing on the rich folk culture of County Kerry, John B. Keane brings new life to old customs in his portrayals of not-so-ordinary country people during the Christmas season. Keane revisits the Christmases celebrated by characters like Dotie Tupper and Johnny Naile, the doughty Canon Doyle and deaf Canon Cornelius Coodle, the amiable spendthrift Aenias Mackson, and Hiccups O’Reilly, who disappears one Christmas Eve for seven years. Keane bears delightful witness to the trials and triumphs of the inhabitants of County Kerry, Ireland.

The Best of John B. Keane

An Irish Christmas Feast

The Field

In this volume are hundreds of short pieces which represent the distillation of the experience of a funny, witty, wise and passionate observer of the bright tapestry of Irish life. All human life is here, and Keane tells its story in an astonishing procession of remarkable characters and in rare humorous glimpses of his own career. This is a collection to prize.

Collected Humorous Writings

Best Of John B Keane

The Hiker Lacey, who has left the family home to take to the roads some years back, returns on a special day in the life of the family he abandoned.

The Year of the Hiker

Presents fifteen non-traditional Irish Christmas stories, including "Twelve Days' Grace" and "The Great Christmas Raid at Ballybooly"

Irish Stories for Christmas

Moll is a hilarious and highly successful comedy about life in an Irish country presbytery.’When a presbytery gets a new housekeeper it becomes like a country that gets a change of government, or like a family that gets a new stepmother’. Moll Kettle would work for no less than a canon for, in her own words, ‘Tis hard to come back to the plain black and white when one is used to the purple’. John B. Keane was one of Ireland's most prolific and respected literary figures. He was born in 1928 in Listowel, County Kerry and it was here that he spent his literary career, running a pub which provided him with inspiration for his characters and ideas. His first play, 'Sive', was presented by the Listowel Drama Group and won the All-Ireland Drama Festival in 1959. It was followed by another success, 'Sharon's Grave', in 1960. 'The Field' (1965) and 'Big Maggie' (1969), are widely regarded as classics of the modern Irish stage and jewels in a crown which includes such popular hits as 'Many Young Men of Twenty', 'The Man from Clare', 'Moll', 'The Chastitute' and 'The Year of the Hiker'. His large canon of plays have been seen abroad in cities as far afield as Moscow and Los Angeles. 'Big Maggie' ran on Broadway for over two months in 1982 and 'The Field' was adapted into an Oscar-winning Hollywood film, starring Brenda Fricker and Richard Harris, in 1991.

Moll

A comedy about life in an Irish country presbytery.

A Comedy in Three Acts

Love Bites and Other Stories

The Field is John B. Keane's fierce and tender study of the love a man can have for land and the ruthless lengths he will go to in order to obtain the object of his desire. It is dominated by Bull McCabe, one of the most famous characters in Irish writing today. An Oscar-nominated adaptation of The Field proved highly successful and popular worldwide, and starred Richard Harris, John Hurt, Brenda Fricker and Tom Berenger.

A play about the poignancy of a woman facing the change of life.

The Change in Mame Fadden

The Irish Stories of John B. Keane gathers together the wonderful short stories of this prolific Irish storyteller who distills the world of the rural Irish better than anyone else writing today. It includes such gems as "A Hanging," a tale of accusation by silence in a small village that shows both the comic & tragic effects of small-town gossip; "Guaranteed Pure," which concerns the innocence of bachelor William Ramley who is seeking an unsullied Irish bride; & the charming "Under the Sycamore Tree," in which Jimmy Bowen's lifelong dream is realized. "Faith" & "Fred Rimble" will delight the reader with their amusing tragi-comic humor; while "The Reek" shows Keane's great love of the countryside & respect for the vital customs of country folk, the recording of which is no less important, he feels, than international events taking place on the world's stage. "Death Be Not Proud" & "The Fort Field" capture the importance of the land in the Irish psyche, while "Thrift" uncovers the darker side of human nature when obsession for material gain overrides even filial love.

Irish Stories :

Brings together all of John B. Keane's short stories, including: A Hanging, a tale of accusation by silence in a small village, which shows the effects of small-town gossip; and Guaranteed Pure, which concerns the innocence of bachelor Willie Ramley who is seeking an unsullied Irish bride.

John B. Keane

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