The O’Brien Press

The Irish are world masters at talking. The magic behind our silky, colourful (and non-stop) stories is a little thing called ‘blarney’, or ‘the gift of the gab’. But what is it, you ask, and how can you get some for yourself?

The hilarious A Big Pile of Blarney takes you through the history of Blarney Castle and the legend of the world-famous Blarney Stone (not to mention the famous lips that have puckered up to it). By the time you’ve finished reading, you too will be overflowing with beguiling blarney know-how and mellifluous oratorical magnetism!

Colin Murphy is the author of The Most Famous Irish People You’ve Never Heard Of and co-author of the bestselling ‘Feckin’ collection (The O’Brien Press). His début historical novel Boycott (Brandon) was published in 2012 to great acclaim. 

Brendan O’Reilly is an illustrator and senior art director in the world of advertising. He is also the first person to climb every mountain in Ireland over 500 metres, despite being as old as the hills himself. He is married to Bernie, and they have two children, Vincent and Isobel.

lovely little book and it would fit very handily into a suitcase to America - or anywhere else - and it’s very cute

High Noon, Newstalk