Irish Fiction

In 1861 nineteen-year-old Bertie, Prince of Wales, began an affair with the Irish actress Nellie Cliffden. By Royal Appointment is a fictionalised account of their story, based on true events.

A. O'Connor is the bestselling author of The House, The Secrets of Armstrong House, The Left Handed Marriage and The Footman.

2017 At Armstrong House, Kate and Nico Collins are looking forward to a bright future with their young son Cian. When archaeologist Doctor Daniel Byrne arrives in the area to investigate life there in the nineteenth century, he soon crosses paths with Kate. Through Daniel s work, Kate is horrified to discover a vicious assault on a woman occurred in their home in the 1860s when the occupants were Nico s ancestors Lord Edward and his wife Lady Anna. Kate sets out to use all her investigative skills to discover the circumstances of the crime, the identity of victim and the guilty party. 1860s After the long-awaited heir to Armstrong House is born, Lord Edward and Lady Anna take great joy in watching their son Lawrence grow up. But somebody else is watching Edward s cousin Sinclair who has always felt cheated of the Armstrong legacy by the unexpected birth of Lawrence. As Anna s past comes back to haunt her, life at the house is a tangled web of deceit, blackmail and betrayal built on the foundations of lies and murder that explode in a vicious crime in the summer of 1865. 2017 As Kate s detective work edges closer to discovering the truth behind the assault that took place at their house, she and Daniel uncover a mystery that goes much deeper. Kate realises that if the truth is ever revealed it will not only destroy the legacy of the Armstrong family but also her marriage to Nico.

Everything in Angela’s Dublin house has a prefix - Normandy sourced, south facing, overly ambitious husband. She’s gone along with it all - the small talk, the hyena laughter of the women in the social circle she and Matthew inhabit in Dublin. Until now.

While Frank O’Connor was known primarily as one of Ireland’s finest short-story writers, he was also an accomplished translator.