Join us and our Irish partner bookshops, A Tale of Three Indies, for an evening in the company of two of Ireland’s freshest literary talents!

Louise Nealon’s debut novel, Snowflake, was recently Radio 4’s Book at Bedtime:

Eighteen-year-old Debbie White lives on a dairy farm with her mother, Maeve, and her uncle, Billy. Billy sleeps out in a caravan in the garden with a bottle of whiskey and the stars overhead for company. Maeve spends her days recording her dreams, which she believes to be prophecies.

This world is Debbie’s normal, but she is about to step into life as a student at Trinity College in Dublin. As she navigates between sophisticated new friends and the family bubble, things begin to unravel. Maeve’s eccentricity tilts into something darker, while Billy’s drinking gets worse.

Debbie struggles to cope with the weirdest, most difficult parts of herself, her family and her small life. But the fierce love of the White family is never in doubt, and Debbie discovers that even the oddest of families are places of safety. A startling, honest, laugh and cry novel about growing up and leaving home, only to find that you’ve taken it with you, Snowflake is a novel for a generation, and for everyone who’s taken those first, terrifying steps towards adulthood.

Meanwhile Jamie O’Connell’s first novel, Diving for Pearls, is published on 3rd June:

A young woman’s body floats in the Dubai marina. Her death alters the fates of six people, each one striving for a better life in an unforgiving city.

A young Irish man comes to stay with his sister, keen to erase his troubled past in the heat of the Dubai sun.

A Russian sex worker who has outsmarted the system so far- but will her luck run out? 

A Pakistani taxi driver dreams of a future for his daughters.

An Emirate man hides the truth about who he really is.

An Ethiopian maid tries to carve out a path of her own.

From every corner of the globe, Dubai has made promises to them all. Promises of gilded opportunities and bright new horizons, the chance to forget the past and protect long-held secrets. But Dubai breaks its promises, with deadly consequences.

In a city of mirages, how do you find your way out?

This event is part of our wider Independent Bookshop Week celebrations