Books published by publisher riverrun

Spring 1832: Donegal, north west Ireland. Coll Coyle wakes to a blood dawn and a day he does not want to face. The young father stands to lose everything on account of the cruel intentions of his landowner's heedless son. Although reluctant, Coll sets out to confront his trouble. And so begins his fall from the rain-soaked, cloud-swirling Eden, and a pursuit across the wild bog lands of Donegal. Behind him is John Faller - a man who has vowed to hunt Coll to the ends of the earth - in a pursuit that will stretch to an epic voyage across the Atlantic, and to greater tragedy in the new American frontier. Red Sky in Morning is a dark tale of oppression bathed in sparkling, unconstrained imagery. A compassionate and sensitive exploration of the merciless side of man and the indifference of nature, it is both a mesmerizing feat of imagination and a landmark piece of fiction.

FROM THE AUTHOR OF THE LEWIS TRILOGY AND THE ENZO THRILLERS 'FAST, EXCITING' IRISH TIMES 'AN EXCELLENT SERIES' KIRKUS PETER MAY: OVER 3 MILLION COPIES SOLD Human trafficking and inhuman terrorism - the fourth instalment in Peter May's critically acclaimed series. SUFFOCATED A vehicle crammed with dozens of dead Chinese immigrants is found in southern Texas. Pathologist Margaret Campbell must put aside her horror, and find out why. SUMMONED Detective Li Yan - an even more unwelcome memory for Campbell - has arrived stateside to investigate a link in the case to a lucrative trade in illegal labourers. SNAKEHEAD Li and Campbell will soon find that the crime scene hides another secret: a biological time bomb linking traffickers, politicians and migrants in Beijing, Washington and Texas - posing multiple countries one, very singular, threat. LOVED SNAKEHEAD? Read the fifth book in the series, THE RUNNER LOVE PETER MAY? Buy his new thriller, A SILENT DEATH

'A dazzling talent' Malcolm GladwellWhen Adam Gopnik and his soon-to-be-wife, Martha, left the comforts of home in Montreal for New York, the city then, much like today, was a pilgrimage site for the young, the arty, and the ambitious. But it was also becoming a city of greed, where both life's consolations and its necessities were increasingly going to the highest bidder. At the Strangers' Gate builds a portrait of this particular moment in New York through the story of this couple's journey--from their excited arrival as aspiring artists to their eventual growth into a New York family. Gopnik transports us to his tiny basement room on the Upper East Side, and later to SoHo, where he captures a unicorn: an affordable New York loft. He takes us through his professional meanderings, from graduate student-cum-library-clerk to the corridors of Conde Nast and the galleries of MoMA. Between tender and humorous reminiscences, including affectionate portraits of Richard Avedon, Robert Hughes, and Jeff Koons, among many others, Gopnik discusses the ethics of ambition, the economy of creative capital, and the peculiar anthropology of art and aspiration in New York, then and now.

The pig family is distraught!! Christmas is coming, and they have no money to buy gifts!! Whatever shall they do? Luckily for them, Angel Pig pays them a visit, and shows them the true meaning of Christmas. The pigs set about making gifts, baking food, and embracing the holiday spirit. Jan Waldron is also the author of John Pig's Halloween and two books for adults. She says she was inspired by a drawing on a Christmas card of David McPhail's and by fond memories of "holidays my mother gave us. Our kitchen turned into a vivid explosion of colors, smells, and tastes - a tradition I hope I have passed to my children." David McPhail is an author-illustrator beloved for his many books about wonderful characters, some of whom have been pigs. He says that for a Christmas card one year he drew "a little pig with wings and and oversize gown. Someone told me to write about her. I tried but I couldn't. I lamented that fact to Jan. A few days later she said, 'How's this sound?' And that was the beginning of Angel Pig and the Hidden Christmas. In my pictures for this book, I've worked very hard to give Angel Pig the life she deserves."

A fantastic writer - compassionate, funny and fearless' George Saunders'One of the US's finest writers' according to Joshua Ferris, Jim Shepard now delivers a new collection that spans borders and centuries with unrivalled mastery. These ten stories ring with voices as diverse as those belonging to Arctic explorers in history's most nightmarish expedition, the Montgolfier brothers competing to be the first man to fly, and two American frontierswomen whose passionate connection is severed by jealous husbands and a deadly snowstorm.In each case the personal is the political as these humans, while falling in love or negotiating marital pitfalls or simply coming to terms with their own failings, face the tidal wave of nature's indifference and cruelty. History has swept them from our sympathy; Jim Shepard has reached into the past and sought them out.In his first collection to be published in the UK, this celebrated master of the short story displays his formidable acuity in imagining these wildly different worlds, and what our various lives feel like in the grip of catastrophe.

Longlisted for the Orange Prize 2012. He planned to steal with these horses, who were all better than they looked on paper. The trick was to get in and get out fast. But could he really pull it off? Could he be that sure, could he count on being that lucky? Listen carefully my dear. Lord of Misrule, he whispered loudly. Lord of Misrule, Margaret. Memorize that name.

Howard's getting it in the neck at home. Dotty isn't getting any at all. And Norman's getting it at work - from the girl under his desk. What they need is a holiday to let off a bit of steam. And steam is just what they get. As couples of varied ages, class and income set up their deckchairs on the beach, the scene is set for a few crossed wires, a wave of embarrassment and a lot of sand between the sheets. Sun, sea, sex, squabbling: Joseph Connolly's bestselling novel goes straight to the secret heart of that sticky farce of lust and snobbery: the British seaside.

London, 1939. Mary and Jack. In love, unmarried and happy. Until the outbreak of the Second World War. Jackie, ever the lad, is bent on escaping conscription, but the contacts he makes drag him ever deeper into a dangerous criminal underworld. Yet it is Mary who undertakes the most surprising transformation. Despite striving for normality, she must confront a set of choices that will lead to a backstreet abortion and an unexpected vocation. With every tone and cadence of this novel, from wireless to air-raid siren, Connolly conducts with masterful hand and compassionate grace the voices of a once hopeful working class couple - now blitzed, battered and breaking into a desperate new dawn.

SHORTLISTED FOR THE BOLLINGER EVERYMAN WODEHOUSE PRIZE: AS IF THE ROYLE FAMILY WERE WRITTEN BY MARTIN AMIS'Vibrant tragicomic slices of cosmopolitan Englishness' Independent on Sunday'May well be his masterpiece . . . a rich and compelling drama of life' Daily Mail'Virtuosic farce and razor-edged comedy of manners' IndependentJim and Milly. Stan and Jane. Jonathan and Fiona. Winter, 1959. Three married couples: each living in England's Lane, each with an only child, and each attending to family, and their livelihoods - the ironmonger, the sweetshop and the butcher. Each of them hiding their lies, coping in the only way they know how.'He remains essentially a comic novelist, but one whose work has its dark, even sinister side . . . There is no other novelist today who writes quite like Connolly' Scotsman

THE NEW NOVEL FROM THE BOLLINGER SHORTLISTED AUTHOR OF ENGLAND'S LANE.'There's a lot of brilliantly observed detail... it's very funny and very sharp' Michael PalinGeorge is a fashion mad Beatles fan, selfish and cruel. Why his girlfriend Dorothy loves him is a mystery to her and to his best friend Sammy. When George callously chucks her he cannot anticipate that his life, post 1964, will never be the same. And forty-four years later, when George is sixty-four, rich and successful, his past will catch up with him and his family.'Connolly unfolds a rich and compelling drama of life that is anything but everyday' Daily Mail'It is Connolly's skill to get the reader to laugh at what should make you cry or at least wince' Times Literary Supplement