A rousing collection of the most memorable and feel-good shanties in maritime history.

A young Irish sailor cast adrift in the sea. A mermaid princess and Irish luck save him from drowning. This adventurous tale owes its inspiration to stories Mike Mirabella heard as a little boy. His sizeable Italian clan swapped stories during family dinners at the kitchen table. "My grandpa and uncles would tell tales of fishing the waters off the coast of California and up through the inland passages of Alaska. I recall Grandpa Angelo telling of the scary time when he was a cabin boy of 12 and was captured by pirates while working on the tall ships. And then there was the never-ending argument between my Grandpa and Uncle Cam: what was the strange creature they caught off the coast of Alaska? A mermaid or a merman? "I was (and still am), that wee lad in our story, sitting wide-eyed, half-believing, yet never tiring of hearing those wonder-filled stories told by those salty, old jacks."Using the rhyming style of a pirate in an Irish pub, our sailor spins his yarn about seeing the slap of a mermaid's tail during a mighty storm. "On the Luck of an Irish Sailor" is a beautiful tale of adventure on the high seas. In a story that's been passed down for generations, author Mike Mirabella takes us on a magical experience deep beneath the ocean. Could it happen? Did it happen? Folklore - that's the feeling sparked by the illustrations by illustrator Amy O'Hanlon. She uses hues of blues, grays, and browns to depict the fierce storm accurately. On other pages, O'Hanlon uses beige and brown tones to create the illusion of an older picture book-like a classic story that's been around for years.Enjoy the bonus song sheets and sing along with this mostly true story of adventure, redemption, and "The Luck of an Irish Sailor."

On The Luck of an Irish Sailor is a fantasy tale of how a young Irish sailor, while cast adrift in the ocean sea, is then saved from drowning by both the efforts of a mermaid princess and his Irish Luck. The author was and still is, that wee lad in the story, sitting wide-eyed and half-believing, but never tiring of hearing those wonder-filled stories told by those "salty old jacks."

An Irish Country Love Story is the eleventh heartwarming installment in New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author Patrick Taylor's beloved Irish Country series. It’s the winter of 1967 and snow is on the ground in the colorful Irish village of Ballybucklebo, but the chilly weather can’t stop love from warming hearts all over the county. Not just the love between a man and woman, as with young doctor, Barry Laverty, and his fiancee Sue Nolan, who are making plans to start a new life together, but also the love of an ailing pensioner for a faithful dog that's gone missing, the love of the local gentry for the great estate they are on verge of losing, or Doctor Fingal Flahertie O’Reilly’s deep and abiding love for his long-time home and practice. For decades, ever since the war, Number One Main Street, Ballybucklebo, has housed O’Reilly and his practice. In recent years, it has also opened its doors to O’Reilly’s wife, Barry Laverty, and a new addition to the practice, Doctor Nonie Stevens, a sultry and occasionally prickly young woman who may not be fitting in as well as she should. It is to Number One that patients young and old come when they need a doctor’s care, for everything from the measles to a rare and baffling blood disease. An unexpected turn of events threatens to drive O’Reilly from his home for good, unless the entire village can rally behind their doctor and prove that love really can conquer all. At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

"This book was previously published in 2004 under the title The apprenticeship of Doctor Laverty, by Insomniac Press, Toronto"--T.p. verso.