THE DRESS
Lily Fitzpatrick loves vintage - things made all the more precious because once they were owned and loved by another woman. Thousands follow her fashion blog, but this passion for the beautiful clothes of the past is about to have unforeseen consequences, when Lily stumbles upon the story of a 1950s New York beauty, who was not only everything Lily longs to be, but also shares Lily’s surname.
Joy Fitzpatrick was a legend. But what was the famous dress which she once commissioned - said to be so original that nothing in couture would ever match it again? What happened to it - and why did Joy Fitzpatrick suddenly disappear from New York high society?
The Dress interweaves the dramatic story of Joy, the beautiful but tortured socialite and that of Lily - determined to uncover the truth and, if possible, to bring back to life the legendary dress itself.
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ONLY EVER YOU
Set, like Maeve Binchy's early bestsellers, in late 1950s Ireland and New York, this is the story of three women and the charismatic man with whom their lives are interwoven.
Patrick Murphy has charm to burn and a singing voice to die for. Many people will recognise his talent. Many women will love him. Rose, the sweetheart he leaves behind in Ireland, can never forget him and will move heaven and earth to find him again, long after he has married another woman. Ava, the heiress with no self-confidence except on the dance floor, falls under his spell. And tough Sheila Klein, orphaned by the Holocaust and hungry for success as a music manager, she will be ruthless in her determination to unlock his extraordinary star quality.
But in the end, Patrick Murphy's heart belongs to only one of them. Which one will it be?
THE LOST GARDEN
Aileen Doherty is leaving the island of Illaunmor for the first time. She can't wait to leave the confines of her sheltered life to go on her first adventure, tattie picking for the summer in Scotland, with her father and two older brothers.
What she hadn't bargained for was meeting the irresistible Jimmy Walsh, who falls for flame-haired Aileen the moment he sets eyes on her. Spending each day working together side by side, Aileen and Jimmy fall passionately in love, until their happiness is cruelly cut short by a tragic accident which will change their young lives forever.
Back on Illaunmor, Aileen finds solace in reviving an abandoned garden, which has been left as lonely and bereft as she has. Gradually, through the magic of hope, Aileen brings the garden back to life - and herself with it.
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THAT GIRL
Hanna flees the scene of a terrible crime in her native Sligo. If she can just vanish, re-invent herself under a new name, perhaps the police won't catch up with her. London seems the perfect place to disappear.
Lara has always loved Matthew and imagined happy married life in Dublin. Then comes the bombshell – Matthew says he wants to join the priesthood. Humiliated and broken-hearted, Lara heads to the most godless place she can find, King's Road, Chelsea.
Matthew's twin sister, Noreen, could not be more different from her brother. She does love fiance John, but she also craves sex, parties and fun. Swinging London has it all, but without John, Noreen is about to get way out of her depth.
All three girls find themselves working for Bobby Chevron – one of London's most feared gangland bosses – and it's not long before their new lives start to unravel.
ELLIS ISLAND TRILOGY
Born in 1900 – we follow the first four decades of feisty Ellie Hogan’s adventures life - from Ireland to New York to Hollywood. Ellie finds and loses love through the Jazz Age, the Great Depression and World War until finally, Ellie and her beloved America are thrust forward into an exciting new future.
In ELLIS ISLAND Ellie loves living in New York, working as a lady’s maid for a wealthy socialite. She tries to persuade her husband, John, to join her but he is embroiled in his affairs in Ireland, and caught up in the civil war.
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LISTEN to Kate talking about her Irish inspiration for Ellis Island on Podcasts.ie
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CITY OF HOPE
Ellie returns to a very different New York in the 1930's and plunges headfirst into a new life pouring all her passion and energy into running a home and refuge for the homeless. Then someone she thought she’d never see again steps through her door.
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LISTEN to Kate reading from City of Hope
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LAND OF DREAMS
Ellie’s idyllic and bohemian family lifestyle on Fire Island is shattered when her eldest son, Leo, runs away to Hollywood to seek his fame and fortune. Ellie is compelled to chase after him into the centre the Golden Age of Hollywood where she finds herself dealing with the threats radiating from the war raging in Europe.
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THE PERFECT MARRIAGE
New York food writer Tressa returns from honeymoon worried that she has married her impossibly handsome new husband Dan out of late-thirties panic instead of love. In 1930’s Ireland, her grandmother, Bernadine, is married off to the local schoolteacher after her family are unable to raise a dowry for her to marry her true love, Michael.
Through the stories of these two women RECIPES FOR A PERFECT MARRIAGE challenges the modern ideal of romantic love as a given and ponders whether true love can really be learned.
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JOIN Kate in her kitchen making Irish boxty recipe from The Perfect Marriage.
LITTLE MIRACLE
A child given up for shame – a brother she never knew she had.
Eileen was brought up in rural Ireland in the 1950s. In thrall to the church she gives up her beloved baby for adoption.
Eileen holds the secret for forty years, until she is diagnosed with terminal cancer and her daughter Grace accidentally discovers the brother she never knew she had and tries to persuade her mother to reconcile, but, crippled with years of loss, Eileen cannot break the spell of shame.
The Miracle of Grace is a poignant, but ultimately uplifting, novel that reveals a unique relationship between a mother and her daughter, and tells of a woman whose life has been restricted by the mores of duty, honour, and religion.
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