Showing results by narrator "Gerry O’Brien" in All Categories

Delve into the heart of religious history, where the enduring legacy of the Abrahamic faiths converge with tales of war and theology, revealing their profound impact on contemporary society. In this compelling narrative, religious historian Frank Kenny navigates the complex evolution of a warlike deity from the early scriptures of Jerusalem to the verses of the Bible and Qur’an they inspired. Challenging the one-dimensional portrayal of a benevolent God, The God of War offers a multifaceted view that spans the history of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

Many of us are seeking that special something that will transform our lives. Fin, an Irishman living in Cairo, is no exception. Sacked from his mediocre job on a mediocre newspaper, he sets off on the hunt for an elusive story that might just save him. With little more than a rumpled linen suit to his name, he searches for Farouk, the mercurial storyteller who alone knows what Fin wants to hear, but who has managed to get himself kidnapped.

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man is the first novel of Irish writer James Joyce. A Künstlerroman in a modernist style, it traces the intellectual and religious philosophical awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, a fictional alter ego of Joyce and an allusion to Daedalus, the consummate craftsman of Greek mythology. Stephen questions and rebels against the Catholic and Irish conventions under which he has grown up, culminating in his self-exile from Ireland to Europe.

A deadly strain of flu has mysteriously mutated, causing the deaths of millions throughout Ireland and beyond. But the infected don't stay dead for long, rising up to become flesh-eating monsters. In a quarantined lab just outside Belfast, lab worker Ellis and security guard Abe fight their way through corridors of the living dead, determined to expose a gruesome truth. Ageing conspiracy theorist Tom wracks his brain to figure out what went wrong.

On a dark, wet evening in Dublin, scientist and mother of four Eilish Stack answers her front door to find the GNSB on her step. Two officers from Ireland’s newly formed secret police are here to interrogate her husband, a trade unionist. Ireland is falling apart. The country is in the grip of a government turning towards tyranny and when her husband disappears, Eilish finds herself caught within the nightmare logic of a society that is quickly unravelling.

A collection of 11 new short stories and six new poems by Ireland's top children's writers, edited by Laureate na nOg Eoin Colfer. Each of the stories and poems is based around the theme of place, being set or inspired by a particular location within Ireland.

February 1922. Hollywood is young but already mired in scandal. When a leading movie director is murdered, Irish American investigator Tom Collins is called in by studio boss Mack Sennett, whose troubled star, Mabel Normand, is rumoured to be involved. But Normand has gone missing. And, as Collins discovers, there's a growing list of suspects. His quest leads him through the brutal heart of Prohibition-era Los Angeles, from speakeasies and dope dens to the studios and salons of Hollywood's fabulously wealthy movie elite, and to a secret so explosive it must be kept silent at any cost....

The Happy Prince and Other Tales (sometimes called The Happy Prince and Other Stories) is a collection of stories for children by Oscar Wilde first published in May 1888. It contains five stories: "The Happy Prince", "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Selfish Giant", "The Devoted Friend", and "The Remarkable Rocket".

For centuries, Irish matchmakers have performed a vital service, bringing people together in love and marriage. Willie Daly, whose father and grandfather were matchmakers before him, is the most celebrated of them all. Each year his tiny home town of Lisdoonvarna (population 800) hosts a matchmaking festival that attracts 40,000 visitors from around the world.

A House of Pomegranates is a collection of fairy tales, written by Oscar Wilde, which was published in 1891 as a second collection for The Happy Prince and Other Tales (1888). Wilde once said that this collection was "intended neither for the British child nor the British public."

As well-versed in politics, pop culture, and crime fiction as he is ill-fated in life, Jack Taylor is recovering from a mistaken medical diagnosis and a failed suicide attempt. In need of money - and with former cop on his resume - Jack has been hired as a night-shift security guard. But his Ukrainian boss has Jack in mind for a bit of off-the-books work. He wants Jack to find what some claim to be the first true book of heresy, The Red Book, which is currently in the possession of a rogue priest who is hiding out in Galway after fleeing the Vatican.

"The Happy Prince and Other Tales" (sometimes called "The Happy Prince and Other Stories") is a collection of stories for children by Oscar Wilde first published in May 1888. It contains five stories: "The Happy Prince", "The Nightingale and the Rose", "The Selfish Giant", "The Devoted Friend", and "The Remarkable Rocket".

The classic Oscar Wilde story brought to life. "The Picture of Dorian Gray" begins on a beautiful summer day in Victorian era England, where Lord Henry Wotton, an opinionated man, is observing the sensitive artist Basil Hallward painting the portrait of Dorian Gray, a handsome young man who is Basil's ultimate muse.

"A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" is the first novel of Irish writer James Joyce. A Künstlerroman in a modernist style, it traces the intellectual and religious philosophical awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, a fictional alter ego of Joyce and an allusion to Daedalus, the consummate craftsman of Greek mythology. Stephen questions and rebels against the Catholic and Irish conventions under which he has grown, culminating in his self-exile from Ireland to Europe.

This classic, early 19th century science fiction masterpiece serves as both a wonderful period presentation of the time as well as a cautionary tale. Called by many a "chilling novel account of a Martian invasion of London in the nineteenth century - a science fiction classic for all time." It was made famous by Orson Welles Mercury Theatre mid 20th Century adaptation that literally had thousands of people running for their lives at the time in the Northeast U.S. H. G.

"Green Tea" tells the haunting story of a man plagued by a demonic monkey. The unnamed narrator, a trained surgeon who can’t practice because of the loss of two of his fingers, is organising the papers of his deceased mentor, the famous German physician Dr. Martin Hesselius. In doing so, he stumbles upon a strange case, dating back sixty-four years. Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu (1814-1873) was an Irish writer, known for his ghost and paranormal stories. He studied law at Trinity College in Dublin.

The inspiration behind Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic pirate tale Treasure Island, this is the long lost and almost forgotten true story of how two murderous pirates ended their days swinging in a gibbet on a small island off the coast of Dublin. From the busy streets of London to the exotic island of Tenerife via the vile slave markets on the western coast of Africa it tells of how a band of pirates murdered all those aboard a ship, stealing a treasure that was being secretly transported back to England and how they nearly got away with it....

Under the Sunset was Bram Stoker's first collection of short stories. It is a collection of eight stories for children with 33 illustrations by W. Fitzgerald and W. V. Cockburn. It was first published in the UK in November 1881 by Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington, London.

Gincy, autumn 1916: The 9th Battalion, The Royal Dublin Fusiliers, known rather ominously as The Lambs, go over the top. In 1914, Kevin Flynn had hardly given the war a thought; everyone said it would be over by Christmas. Instead, desperate to impress a girl called Mary, Flynn and his friends begin a journey that leads inexorably to the shattered ruins of Ginchy and suffering beyond imagination.

'Movie czar' Will H. Hays is on a mission to clean up Hollywood by compiling the Doom List - a list of 'undesirables' whom he plans to bar from screen work. Private investigator Tom Collins is hired to protect a leading lady's reputation at all costs and is drawn into a case of scandal, forbidden passion, blackmail and cold-blooded murder.