The magnetism of Kerry lies as much in its people as its landscape. 'Hidden Kerry' takes you on the less-travelled paths of the kingdom and is peopled with a varied cast of characters with colourful stories. Open the covers and lose yourself in the story of Lord Kenmare's forgotten mansion, which hosted royal visits until it was consumed by fire in 1913. An amazing edifice of towers, marble and art, it was reduced to a pile of ashes in hours. You will also meet vibrant characters, such as Lily of the Valley: Lily van Ooost, the Flemish artist who made her home in the Black Valley where she embarked on wildly creative textile projects, including knitting a jumper for Dublin's Halfpenny Bridge. As well as this 'Hidden Kerry' will tell you where to find the county's unknown natural beauty spots concealed just minutes off the beaten track.

This electronic version has been made available under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) open access license. The ‘bog bodies’ of north-western Europe have captured the imaginations of poets and archaeologists alike, allowing us to come face-to-face with individuals from the past. Their exceptional preservation permits us to examine minute details of their lives and deaths, making us reflect poignantly on our own mortality. But, as this book argues, the bodies must be resituated within a turbulent world of endemic violence and change. Reinterpreting the latest continental research and new discoveries, and featuring a ground-breaking ‘cold case’ forensic study of Worsley Man, Manchester Museum’s ‘bog head’, it brings the bogs to life through both natural history and folklore, revealing them as places that were rich and fertile yet dangerous. The book also argues that these remains do not just pose practical conservation problems but also philosophical dilemmas, compounded by the critical debate on if – and how – they should be displayed.

In the silent aftermath he heard a gurgle of water. He was dusty and dirty from the rock explosion and the splashing of the water beckoned him. Water emerged from an opening high overhead and gently cascaded down the rocks to form a pool. He leaned over and splashed the water over his face letting its refreshing coolness linger. A few drops fell from his hands and formed rings in the water. Sliding his hands down his face he peered into the clear pool. Whats this? At first he thought his eyes played a trick on him and then he looked again. Gradually the entire valley below came into focus as if he possessed the sight of a dragon. He could clearly see every farm down to the trees planted in the orchards! He stepped back and his eyes went to the golden throne elevated above the pool of water. One could sit upon the throne and look into the water surveying the land below. He walked over to admire its workmanship. Gently his long thin fingers touched the markings etched into its massive arms; the same mysterious symbols that covered Stonecaverns walls. The embedded gems sparkled in the fire light invitingly. He stepped onto the stone platform and sat down. It fi t him perfectly. Rubbing his hands over the arm rests he marveled at how seamlessly his gems blended into the gold. Master craftsmanship or dragon power? Either way he felt an unequaled power of transformation radiate from the magnifi cent piece. Could he use this power to transform his thoughts to his evil intent?

New York Times bestselling author Sheila Connolly introduces the first novel in the County Cork mystery series—set in a small village in Ireland where buried secrets are about to rise to the surface... Honoring the wish of her late grandmother, Maura Donovan visits the small Irish village where her Gran was born—though she never expected to get bogged down in a murder mystery. Nor had she planned to take a job in one of the local pubs, but she finds herself excited to get to know the people who knew her Gran. In the pub, she’s swamped with drink orders as everyone in town gathers to talk about the recent discovery of a nearly one-hundred-year-old body in a nearby bog. When Maura realizes she may know something about the dead man—and that the body’s connected to another, more recent, death—she fears she’s about to become mired in a homicide investigation. After she discovers the death is connected to another from almost a century earlier, Maura has a sinking feeling she may really be getting in over her head...

The Story of Ireland by Emily Lawless is a psychologically rich history of this country. Lawless's musings represent the attitudes of nationalistic Irish people at the time. Excerpt: "Irish history is a long, dark road, with many blind alleys, many sudden turnings, many unaccountably crooked portions; a road which, if it has a few sign-posts to guide us, bristles with threatening notices, now upon the one side and now upon the other, the very ground underfoot being often full of unsuspected perils threatening to hurt the unwary."

There's a frog on the log in the middle of the bog. A small, green frog on a half-sunk log in the middle of the bog....

From the Pulitzer Finalist and universally beloved author of the New York Times best sellers Swamplandia! and Vampires in the Lemon Grove, a stunning new collection of short fiction that showcases Karen Russell’s extraordinary, irresistible gifts of language and imagination. Karen Russell’s comedic genius and mesmerizing talent for creating outlandish predicaments that uncannily mirror our inner in lives is on full display in these eight exuberant, arrestingly vivid, unforgettable stories. In“Bog Girl”, a revelatory story about first love, a young man falls in love with a two thousand year old girl that he’s extracted from a mass of peat in a Northern European bog. In “The Prospectors,” two opportunistic young women fleeing the depression strike out for new territory, and find themselves fighting for their lives. In the brilliant, hilarious title story, a new mother desperate to ensure her infant’s safety strikes a diabolical deal, agreeing to breastfeed the devil in exchange for his protection. The landscape in which these stories unfold is a feral, slippery, purgatorial space, bracketed by the void—yet within it Russell captures the exquisite beauty and tenderness of ordinary life. Orange World is a miracle of storytelling from a true modern master.