Irish Humor

How does one become accidentally engaged? That's what Suzy Curtis thinks when she suddenly finds herself very publicly engaged to handsome Harry Fitzallan, local town hero. Harry wants famous rock star Jaz to be his best man - only Jaz is Suzy's ex-husband and a recovering alcoholic. Suzy's half sister, Lucille, loves getting to know the family she never met, but she can't help her attraction to Jaz, nor can Suzy quash her entirely inappropriate feelings for Leo, Harry's engaged brother.

Fifteen years ago in the colourful bustle of Vietnam, Celine and Patrick met and shared four blissful days together. It felt like true love, but soon reality tore them apart and Celine moved on. But now, when she sees him unexpectedly on a busy London street, suddenly nothing else matters. As she deals with the mixed emotions of an amicable divorce, Celine becomes preoccupied with her daughter and the dating agency she founded - not least when her ex-husband, Mike, asks her to find him someone new.

In the picturesque village of Upper Sisley, everyone thinks they know their neighbors, but nobody knows what scandalous surprise is going to happen next. An unexpected reunion between two former lovers changes both their families forever. Old friendships fade and new ones blossom as neighbors begin to see one another in a new light. A young woman finally asks for what she really wants, a young man atones for bad behavior, and both find that courage brings its own rewards.

While marooned at his banking job in the bewilderingly damp and insular realm known as Ireland, Claude Martingale, is approached by a down-on-his-luck author, Paul, looking for his next great subject. Claude finds that his life gets steadily more exciting under Paul's fictionalizing influence; he even falls in love with a beautiful waitress. But Paul's plan is not what it seems-and neither is Claude's employer, the Bank of Torabundo, which inflates through dodgy takeovers and derivatives-trading until-well, you can probably guess how that shakes out.

A humorous sketch from Robert E. Kearns (author of A Donnybrook Affair, Crabb, Hy Brasil, Freedom is For the Few, Carnivore, Ossuary and Embers) which explores our frustrations with customer service departments and their apparent understanding of those frustrations. Fun and imaginative, perfect for the staging of a short play or a quick read. For anyone who has ever gone around in circles with a representative, this is the piece for you.

Five ghost stories and occult tales from the English West Country with a whiff of brimstone and a distinct dash of dry humour. Old Crotchet The year is 1920, and it's Twelfth Night by the old reckoning. Festivities are about to commence at Hinton St Cuthbert Manor when something sinister stirs from its protracted dormancy, awakened, it would seem, by the arrival of two young guests. The old ways, they find, should not be treated lightly. Gwydion’s Dawn Murder, mystery and magic: a satirical journey into the occult. Meet Gwydion Turner, an inept, portentous, psychedelic demon raiser; a ...

As a teen Maddy Harvey was a bit of an ugly duckling. Luckily she's blossomed since then, and Maddy thanks God for this small miracle when a tall, handsome stranger comes to her rescue one starry summer's night. But instant attraction turns to a disaster in the making when Maddy learns the identity of her superman: Kerr McKinnon. Of all the colorful residents of the small Cotswold town of Ashcombe, why did it have to be him? Because, as family feuds go, the Montagues and the Capulets have nothing on the Harveys and the McKinnons.

May Rosevere has reached the grand old age of 110, thanks to several slices of toast with butter every morning, a glass (or two) of port, and the wonders of the Cornish sea air - or so she tells everyone. But there’s much more to May than her remarkable age. She has a secret. One that no one has ever discovered....

I was an out-of-work rugby coach who was soon to be divorced. My old dear was sliding away in a nursing home in a certain suburb of West Dublin. And my old man had brought the country to the verge of, like, nuclear annihilation. And if that wasn’t bad enough, my teenage daughter was in love again. My sister-in-law was about to give birth to a baby that was possibly mine. And Castlerock College was about to go – I can’t even say the word – co-ed.

Adventures of an Elephant Boy is another brilliant political satire filled with heart and humor by the author of The Mouse That Roared. Living in a quiet village on the Ganges River with the freedom to do as he pleases, a simple elephant boy named Hari Ranjit Singh is selected by the Best of All Possible Nations (any resemblance to the U.S.A. being wholly intentional) to be its personal guest. On his way there, Hari learns that in order to have liberty and happiness in the rest of the world, you need lots of laws…lots and lots of laws. “Some writers have a talent for narrative. Some ...

Lisa’s dated a series of disastrous men; Simon’s loved and lost the girl of his dreams. She’s hoping fate might intervene in her love life; he’d prefer that it stopped meddling with his. Today, they’re meeting, courtesy of the local paper’s ‘Blind Date’ feature - but while Lisa’s looking for that elusive ‘spark’, Simon’s sure lightning doesn’t strike twice. Will theirs be a love that’s written in the stars, or merely another mismatch written up in the Gazette?

At the Orchestra School of Music in Waterford, with the help of Tommy, Tina is getting her students ready for an Easter concert that is to take place in a local castle. Tommy, having suggested an Easter egg hunt for afterwards, wants to help Tina with the hiding. But she's having none of it and hides them herself. However, the following morning, when she returns to the castle, the eggs have disappeared. With Tommy again by her side, the pair follow a trail of tin foil which leads them to the culprit, Hugo, a chocolate eating, music loving bunny. Hugo's Easter Concert is another delightful ...

"Three Men on the Bummel" (1900) is a comical travelogue by Jerome K. Jerome. The three companions are on a bicycle tour through the German Black Forest. What does Bummel mean? D. C. Browning writes: "The title must be puzzling to many readers, for 'bummel' will not be found in English dictionaries." You can learn its meaning at the last chapter of the book, which is a series of humorous vignettes, each of which builds slowly, through accumulation of layer on layer of detail, through several pages.

The ghost of Aiden's grandfather tells him to rescue his mother from a psychiatric facility. Aiden enlists the help of his brother and two of his grandmother's friends. Mystery, adventure, and the supernatural converge in this story of redemption. James Mulhern has published fiction in many literary journals and has received accolades. Several stories were selected for anthologies of short fiction. In 2013, he was chosen as a finalist for the Tuscany Prize in Catholic Fiction. In 2015, Mr. Mulhern was awarded a fully paid writing fellowship to Oxford University in the United Kingdom. That ...

"Best Served Frozen is a chick flick with the meddlesome mothers-in-law played not by Goldie Hawn and Diane Keaton but more like...if the Kray Brothers were women."--Colin Quinn Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but hardened mother of seven Fionnuala Flood plans on serving hers up frozen. Or so she thinks. The bells are ringing out in Derry, Northern Ireland, as the dirt-poor Floods and the rich and entitled Riddells prepare for the pairing in matrimony of their families and a bridging of the gap between the two sniping communities. But some are not best pleased, and it might be more ...

It was my father’s arrest that brought me here, although you could certainly say that I took the scenic route. Here is rehab, where Ben - the only son of a rich South Dublin banker - is piecing together the shattered remains of his life. Abruptly cut off, at the age of 27, from a life of heedless privilege, Ben flounders through a world of drugs and dead-end jobs, his self-esteem at rock bottom. Even his once-adoring girlfriend, Clio, is at the end of her tether. Then Ben runs into an old school friend who wants to cut him in on a scam.

Take Me to Your President is another brilliant political satire by the author of The Mouse That Roared. After chasing his dog (who was chasing a rabbit), a simple farmer from a small village in England finds himself inexplicably on board a top-secret intergalactic missile. Before he can sort it out, the farmer finds himself touching down in the United States of America where he is mistaken for a Martian. And now it’s up to him to bring world peace. “Once again Leonard Wibberley—author of The Mouse That Roared—has conjured a unique sort of comedy from a blend of fantasy, blandly ...

From the bestselling author of The Mouse That Roared comes a witty tale of a leprechaun in New York. Timothy Patrick Fergus Kevin Sean Desmond McGillicuddy (for short) is a leprechaun diplomat on a mission to convince the President of the United States to halt the construction of a new U.S.-owned airport on a tract of Little People land in Ireland. With the belief “mischief is me nature” and the help of a 10-year-old American boy, he proves wee folk a big force to be reckoned with. This special 60th Anniversary edition features a new introduction by journalist and author Quentin ...

"Continued brilliance. The characters will make you laugh and cry and fume while you're reading. Comic Irish writing at its best." Colin Quinn Desperate mother of seven, Fionnuala Flood, thinks her new get-rich-quick scheme will pay the bills, but instead it threatens to tear her family apart. The case of canned vegetables she bought contains not spuds but explosives, and a defunct IRA branch will stop at nothing to get them back. Meanwhile, her two oldest sons are in prison, her husband's hands are fondling more than frozen fish at work, and her lesbian daughter has published a tell-all ...

Ireland’s Instagram sensation Meditations for the Anxious Mind takes us on a trip around Ireland of the likes you’ve never seen before, from the trolley-filled Liffey to the glamour of Navan. Why not go off the beaten track with Meditations for the Anxious Mind’s The Toxic Travel Guide and laugh your way around Ireland. We did the research so you don’t have to smell the bin juice.