Books published by publisher Black Swan

From the twice Man Booker longlisted author of From a Low and Quiet Sea 'Poetic, powerful and heart-rending' The Times'An exquisite account of womanhood, friendship, prejudice and tradition that is both intimate in scale and awesome in achievement' Irish IndependentMelody Shee is alone and in trouble. Her husband doesn't take her news too well. She can’t tell her father yet because he’s a good man and this could break him. She’s trying to stay in the moment, but the future is looming – larger by the day – while the past won’t let her go. What she did to Breedie Flynn all those years ago still haunts her.It’s a good thing that she meets Mary Crothery when she does. Mary is a young Traveller woman, and she knows more about Melody than she lets on. She might just save Melody’s life.'A joy to read, for all that it breaks your heart' Independent'One of the finest writers working in Ireland today ... worthy of Greek Drama' Guardian'A stunning piece of work, utterly truthful and emotionally powerful' Joseph O'Connor'Work of genius ... I was entranced by it. Buckled by it' Sebastian Barry

____________________THE Sunday Times BESTSELLERA New York Times Summer readWashington Post Top Twenty books to read this summerA GQ summer read'An angry and important work of historical detection, calling time on the misogyny that has fed the Ripper myth. Powerful and shaming' Guardian'GRIPPING' New York TimesPolly, Annie, Elizabeth, Catherine and Mary-Jane are famous for the same thing, though they never met. They came from Fleet Street, Knightsbridge, Wolverhampton, Sweden and Wales. They wrote ballads, ran coffee houses, lived on country estates, they breathed ink-dust from printing presses and escaped people-traffickers. What they had in common was the year of their murders: 1888. Their murderer was never identified, but the name created for him by the press has become far more famous than any of these five women.Now, in this devastating narrative of five lives, historian Hallie Rubenhold finally sets the record straight, and gives these women back their stories.__________________'At last, the Ripper's victims get a voice... An eloquent, stirring challenge to reject the prevailing Ripper myth.' Mail on Sunday'Devastatingly good. The Five will leave you in tears, of pity and of rage.' LUCY WORSLEY, author of bestselling Jane Austen at Home'How fitting that in the year when we celebrate the 100th anniversary of women’s suffrage, dignity is finally returned to these unfortunate women.' PROFESSOR DAME SUE BLACK, author of bestselling All that Remains‘Mary Ann Nichols, Annie Chapman, Elizabeth Stride, Catherine Eddowes, and Mary Jane Kelly deserve to be thought of as more than eviscerated bodies on an East London street. This haunting book does something to redress that balance’ Sunday Times'What a brilliant and necessary book' JO BAKER, author of Sunday Times bestselling Longbourn‘A Ripper narrative that gives voice to the women he silenced; I’ve been waiting for this book for years. Beautifully written and with the grip of a thriller, it will open your eyes and break your heart.’ ERIN KELLY, Sunday Times bestselling author of He Said/She Said'An outstanding work of history-from-below … magnificent'The Spectator

In the company of his friend Stephen Katz (last seen in the bestselling Neither Here nor There), Bill Bryson set off to hike the Appalachian Trail, the longest continuous footpath in the world. Ahead lay almost 2,200 miles of remote mountain wilderness filled with bears, moose, bobcats, rattlesnakes, poisonous plants, disease-bearing tics, the occasional chuckling murderer and - perhaps most alarming of all - people whose favourite pastime is discussing the relative merits of the external-frame backpack. Facing savage weather, merciless insects, unreliable maps and a fickle companion whose profoundest wish was to go to a motel and watch The X-Files, Bryson gamely struggled through the wilderness to achieve a lifetime's ambition - not to die outdoors.