About this item
In the bestselling tradition of Fannie Flagg and Jenny Colgan comes Felicity Hayes-McCoy's U.S. debut about a local librarian who must find a way to rebuild her community and her own life in this touching, enchanting novel set on Ireland's stunning West Coast.As she drives her mobile library van between villages of Ireland's West Coast, Hanna Casey tries not to think about a lot of things. Like the sophisticated lifestyle she abandoned after finding her English barrister husband in bed with another woman. Or that she's back in Lissbeg, the rural Irish town she walked away from in her teens, living in the back bedroom of her overbearing mother's retirement bungalow. Or, worse yet, her nagging fear that, as the local librarian and a prominent figure in the community, her failed marriage and ignominious return have made her a focus of gossip. With her teenage daughter, Jazz, off traveling the world and her relationship with her own mother growing increasingly tense, Hanna is determined to reclaim her independence by restoring a derelict cottage left to her by her great-aunt. But when the threatened closure of the Lissbeg Library puts her personal plans in jeopardy, Hanna finds herself leading a battle to restore the heart and soul of the Finfarran Peninsula's fragmented community. And she's about to discover that the neighbors she'd always kept at a distance have come to mean more to her than she ever could have imagined. Told with heart and abundant charm, The Library at the Edge of the World is a joyous story about the meaning of home and the importance of finding a place where you truly belong."Heart-warming . . . reminiscent of Maeve Binchy and Roisin Meaney." - Irish Examiner
About the Author
USA Today bestselling Irish writer Felicity Hayes-McCoy is the author of the 'Finfarran' novels, set in a fictional county on Ireland's West Coast. Marian Keyes calls her writing "a pitch-perfect delight", Cathy Kelly, bestselling author of "Between Sisters" and "Secrets of a Happy Marriage", has described the Finfarran books as "a delicious feast", and "sunshine on the page", while Jenny Colgan, bestselling author of "The Cafe by the Sea", calls them "charming and heartwarming". The Heart of Summer, (Finfarran #6) was published by Hachette Irl in May 2020. Ireland's Sunday Business Post reviewer wrote "This works perfectly well as a standalone novel ... her writing sings", and bestselling author Patricia Scanlan wrote "Fans of Maeve Binchy will adore it - she just gets better and better!"Finfarran #1, The Library at the Edge of The World, was published in June 2016: The Sunday Times called it "engaging, sparkling and joyous" and The Sunday Independent wrote "If you like reading a feelgood novel, take a journey to the edge of the world. An easy, pleasant summer read for fans of Maeve Binchy". Summer at The Garden Café, the second in the series, came out in the UK & Irl May 2017, The Mistletoe Matchmaker, a warm, empowering Christmas story, in October 2017, and The Month of Borrowed Dreams, in June 2018: The Irish Independent's review called it "a heartwarming novel which will leave you longing to read the earlier ones". The best-selling author Marian Keyes said she was 'utterly charmed' by Finfarran #5, The Transatlantic Book Club, which was published in 2019.A US & Canadian edition of The Library at the Edge of The World, published by Harper Perennial in Nov 2017, was chosen as a LibraryReads Pick. The US & Canadian edition of Summer at The Garden Café was published in 2018, The Mistletoe Matchmaker followed in Oct 2019, and The Transatlantic Book Club will be published there in Fall 2020.The Finfarran novels have been translated into six languages and can also be purchased in English as ebooks and audiobooks. Described as 'wise, funny' and 'blazingly beautiful' by the actress and writer Joanna Lumley, Felicity's first memoir, The House on an Irish Hillside was published by Hodder & Stoughton in 2012. It takes the author to London - where she worked as an actress and met her English, opera-director husband - and back again to Ireland, to a remarkable stone house on the Dingle peninsula where she first studied the Irish language in her teens. In response to requests from readers, Enough Is Plenty: The Year on the Dingle Peninsula, a sequel to The House on an Irish Hillside, was published by The Collins Press in 2015. Illustrated with photographs taken by Felicity and her husband, and with a foreword by the best-selling Irish writer Alice Taylor, it charts the cycle of the Celti
