Irish Girls about Town

by Colette Caddle, Marisa Mackle, Annie Sparrow, et al.

Book Overview

Get ready to paint the town green.New York Timesbestselling authors Maeve Binchy and Marian Keyes top an impressive roster of the Emerald Isle's most popular women writers as they celebrate the joys... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743457463
• ISBN13: 9780743457460
• Release Date: February 2003
• Publisher: Gallery Books
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 0.67 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.2" x 8.5"

Customer Reviews

Lighthearted, easy read

I'm an Irish girl, so I picked up this book at my local store. I loved reading short stories by female Irish authors I hadn't read before. Good introduction to many new voices. I took my time reading this book (took it on a couple trips); the short-story format really lent itself to that. There were some very touching stories and some very funny stories. There is definitely something for everyone.

SIXTEEN SMART IRISH SHORT STORIES

I am a fan of short stories and IRISH GIRLS ABOUT TOWN was certainly not a disappointment. This book is a collection of sixteen short stories of the newest and best Irish women writers of pop fiction. Each story is focused on some aspect of a woman's love or involvement with a man. Many are written with smart insights and witty humor which I enjoyed much. Among them there are several that resonated with me after I put the book down including "Soulmates" by Marian Keyes (envy is a negative human quality); "The Twenty-Eighth Day" by Catherine Barry (a very funny take on PMS); "The Cup Runneth Over" by Julie Parsons (marital affairs can burn both conspiring partners); "The Ring Cycle" by Martina Devlin (a wedding ring just won't go away); and "The Unlovable Woman" by Annie Sparrow (sometimes the best things are right before our eyes).IRISH GIRLS ABOUT TOWN is an excellent means to get acquainted with Irish women authors who you may have previously been unfamiliar with. At the end of each story there is a short bio which makes it easy to pursue other works by authors that you enjoyed. In addition, there are also authors that are already well known such as Maeve Binchy. Another good quality of IRISH GIRLS ABOUT TOWN is that all benefits goes towards charity. As explained in the book's forward, The Society of St. Vincent de Paul and Barnardo's are two organizations that brings great benefits to the people of Ireland, Britian and the world. Read this book, and you may just be as entertained as I was. Enjoy!

What a delightful read!

I always love to get my hands on new Irish writing as I am half Irish and spend many many vacations in the country. Irish Girls About Town is the kind of book you will not be bringing to sell in your second hand bookshop as it is the kind of book you'd like to hang onto for years. Like some of the other viewers here I agree that Ms. Mackle's story was terrific but Mary Ryan's story was excellent too and I liked Maeve Binchy's story about a single woman who is taken advantage of by her married siblings who claim to be too busy to look after their elderly mother. Young or old, if you're a woman you'll love this collection.

A gem!

What brilliant idea to have Ireland's most gifted female writers put together in a gem of a book! Irish Girls About Town is every chick lit enthusiast's dream come true. My favorite stories are the ones from Marian Keyes, Maeve Binchy and Cathy Kelly. However, newcomer Marisa Mackle's "Girls' Weekend" is the best one out of the bunch. I was so impressed with her sharp wit that I purchased her debut novel, Mr. Right for the Night. This book is a true gem and I couldn't recommend it enough!

Wow!

This book is an absolute must for the bedside table. The best thing about a book of short stories is that you can pick it up and put it down, but I found it extremely difficult to put this book down. Maeve Binchy is her usual self - a compelling storyteller but there are a few surprises here...newcomer Marisa Mackle's short story was a gripping, laugh-out-loud read and I loved short stories by Collette Caddle, Marian Keyes and Sarah Webb. Julie Parson's story has a great twist at the end and Mary Ryan's story was v. amusing but surprisingly there isn't a dissappointing story in this collection - a rare feat when you get 17 authors together. All in all I give this a fantastic 10 out of 10 recommendation!!!