On the 31st October 1999 Jesse Martin, in his yacht, Lionheart, completed the last great adventure of the twentieth century becoming the youngest person to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world. He was eighteen years old and didn't know the meaning of impossible. After 50 000km and 328 days at sea he returned home to Port Phillip Bay and a waiting crowd of 20 000 onlookers, having lived his dream.

This is Frank McCourt's sad, funny, bittersweet memoir of growing up in New York in the 30s and in Ireland in the 40s. It is a story of extreme hardship and suffering, in Brooklyn tenements and Limerick slums - too many children, too little money, his mother Angela barely coping as his father Malachy's drinking bouts constantly brought the family to the brink of disaster. It is a story of courage and survival against apparently overwhelming odds.

Three women, whose lives are linked, living in one city....Lisa Edwards is stuck in Dublin, launching Colleen magazine. She should be partying in Prada in London. Is she unhappy about it? She wouldn’t tell you even if she was. Ashling Kennedy is an award-winning worrier. No waist, no boyfriend, far too many handbags. And, deep down, a feeling that something is missing from her life. Clodagh Kelly should be blissfully happy. Married to her prince, two adorable children, a lovely house. Sowhy, lately, has she had the urge to kiss a frog? Sushi for Beginners is about searching for happiness. And how, if you let things bubble under the surface for too long, sooner or later they’ll boil over....

It is the early 1980s. Crack cocaine has made its devastating appearance. Violence is escalating and so is an unnerving lack of morality. Things are happening that have never happened before. One of those things is the brutal kidnapping of an innocent twelve year old girl. But the kidnapper has made a deadly mistake. He has brought Boomer Frontieri back to life, back to the streets. And back into action.....