When Ursula Barnett and her husband Jed win the Irish lottery, they think their troubles are over. But they are just beginning.
Ursula coerces her Yank husband to retire in her hometown of Derry, Northern Ireland, hoping to atone for her youthful sins as a collaborator with the IRA in the 1970s. At the first sniff of Ursula's lotto win, however, her chronically greedy sister-in-law Fionnuala Flood rallies the family against Ursula.
Fionnuala's life is a misery. She is married to a boozing fish-packing plant worker and raising seven seedy hooligans, from a convict son to an...
When Ursula Barnett and her husband Jed win the Irish lottery, they think their troubles are over. But they are just beginning.
Comic Irish writing at its best --Colin Quinn, comedian. The Troubles of Northern Ireland are history, and in the city of Derry, former foes Catholics and Protestants are living happily side by side. Or are they? Hardened mother of seven unruly thugs, Fionnuala Flood, gets more than she bargains for when she buys a case on the black market that contains not canned potatoes or turnips, but explosives. And a wilting branch of the defunct IRA will stop at nothing to get it back. Adding to Fionnuala's woes, her two oldest sons are in prison, her husband's hands are fondling more than frozen fish...
Comic Irish writing at its best --Colin Quinn, comedian. The Troubles of Northern Ireland are history, and in the city of Derry, former foes Catholics...
Comic Irish writing at its best --Colin Quinn, comedian. The Troubles of Northern Ireland are history, and in the city of Derry, former foes Catholics and Protestants are living happily side by side. Or are they? Hardened mother of seven unruly thugs, Fionnuala Flood, gets more than she bargains for when she buys a case on the black market that contains not canned potatoes or turnips, but explosives. And a wilting branch of the defunct IRA will stop at nothing to get it back. Adding to Fionnuala's woes, her two oldest sons are in prison, her husband's hands are fondling more than frozen fish...
Comic Irish writing at its best --Colin Quinn, comedian. The Troubles of Northern Ireland are history, and in the city of Derry, former foes Catholics...
Publishers Weekly: "The Irish family at the heart of this hilarious novel is so tawdry and despicable, it's a wonder they don't kill off each other in the first few pages. ...The central figure is Ursula, whose husband had won the lottery and has since gambled away much of the winnings. Ursula's new (and fading) riches have strained many of her personal relationships, particularly with her sister-in-law, Fionnuala, a first-rate villain who concocts get-rich-quick schemes based on the misery of others. ...Once the vulgarity and shenanigans set in, the novel is as absorbing as it is...
Publishers Weekly: "The Irish family at the heart of this hilarious novel is so tawdry and despicable, it's a wonder they don't kill off each other in...
"Continued brilliance. The characters will make you laugh and cry and fume while you're reading." Colin Quinn With a family like this, who wouldn't need absinthe? Fionnuala Flood, mother of seven unruly thugs, takes stock of her life on her 45th birthday, and it couldn't be more of a misery. She's been fired from the corner shop for stealing, her two oldest sons are in prison, her husband's hands are fondling more than frozen fish at the packing plant, and her lesbian daughter has just published a book exposing the family's attempts to get their claws into Auntie Ursula Barnett's lottery...
"Continued brilliance. The characters will make you laugh and cry and fume while you're reading." Colin Quinn With a family like this, who wouldn't ne...
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 Catholic Floods and the Protestant 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 a case of For Whom The Bell Tolls. What is the price to be paid for a mother's love? For daughter Dymphna and son Lorcan, dangerously high. Fionnuala is already furious Dymphna has put her...
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 ...
It's danger on the high seas for the Barnetts, but will it come from the authorities, Mother Nature or family Flood? In Wisconsin six years ago, Ursula Barnett accidentally defrauded her local church of $100,000. The statue of limitations is inching closer, and the police are circling in. Panicked, Ursula books herself and her American family passage on a budget centennial Titanic cruise, hoping to ride out the investigation and embark a woman redeemed. But lurking amongst the leaky walls of the Queen of Crabs is a danger worse than bad food, hip-hop nightclubs and terrifying onshore...
It's danger on the high seas for the Barnetts, but will it come from the authorities, Mother Nature or family Flood? In Wisconsin six years ago, Ursul...
