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During the mid-19th century, the name Eugene O'Reilly was a byword for courage and controversy. A hero of the Young Ireland movement, a mercenary commander, and a man of complex loyalties, his life read like an epic novel of daring exploits and political machinations. From his failures during the 1848 rebellion to his successes as soldier, spy, tribunal judge and Ottoman administrator, his name was rarely out of the papers, his life anything but ordinary. Rumoured to be the illegitimate son of British statesman Lord Palmerston, O'Reilly's groundbreaking leadership of a Turkish regiment of tribal horsemen during the Crimean War saw him recruited to a similar post in the British Army, where he became notorious as the accuser in the 'Beatson Mutiny'. In post-war Turkey he would gain further renown as the rescuer of Christians displaced by the Damascus massacre and the instigator of a failed attempt to raise the Bedouin tribes against their Ottoman overlords in an attempt to create an independent Syria. A tale of adventure, betrayal, and unrelenting ambition, Shamrock, Crown and Crescent recounts the dramatic rise and fall of one of the 19th century's most extraordinary figures, a man who defied the odds at every turn.

Arrested for treason at 13, William Lamport of Wexford was a pirate general at 14, and at the age of 19 played a crucial role in the Battle of Nordinen. He achieved a place at the court of Philip IV of Spain, but fled following a scandalous affair. He was later charged with plotting a revolution in Mexico. This is his story.

Benedict Arthur was just seventeen when he wed Catherine Hacket. She was at least thirty-eight. The year was 1712 and the allegations of seduction and abduction that followed their secret marriage would lead to a famously bitter legal battle that would take almost two decades to resolve. Unable to divorce, it would not be until Catherine's death, in 1749, that Benedict could finally legitimise his mistress and children and move them into the magnificent Palladian villa that he had built on the shores of the Broadmeadow Estuary, close to the village of Donabate. This is the story of the origins of Seafield House, and how the Arthurs of Great Cabragh became the Arthurs of Seafield.

For more than 120 years Seafield, a large estate bordering the village of Donabate in north County Dublin, had been the family seat of the Arthures, a wealthy and influential family that owned, at least on paper, a considerable portion of inner city Dublin. In 1849, however, in the space of a single year, their loans were called in, a receiver was appointed, and they lost everything. The event that appears to have precipitated this dramatic reversal of fortune was the killing of one Thomas Towson and the dogged determination of police inspector Robert Walpole to see Benedict Arthure stand trial for the crime. This is the story of Walpole's investigation, the early days of the G-Men (the Detective Division of the Dublin Metropolitan Police), and the demise of the Arthures of Seafield.

One of the most divisive figures in Irish history, the Rev. Matthew Pilkington once allegedly attempted to sell his children into slavery and pimp out his wife to his libertine friends in order to procure a divorce. He also, for almost thirty-three years, laboured as Anglican Vicar of Donabate, his time and attention frequently absorbed less in the spiritual needs of his ever-diminishing flock, than the creation of his famous Dictionary of Painters - the first handbook of connoisseurship to be written in English. He also helped to establish the famous Cobbe Art Collection at Newbridge House. Latterly regarded by Jonathan Swift (his former mentor) as 'the falsest rogue' in the kingdom, Matthew Pilkington's story has historically been overshadowed by that of his wife, Laetitia, a woman who for more than two centuries has provoked more than her fair share of scandal, folklore and academic debate. Matthew, however, had a life after Laetitia and left a legacy of his own. This is his story.

'Ok, lads, you have everything you need to win this game. So go out and do it ,' said the coach. Eoin's not sure if it will be so easy! He's just started a new school ... and a new sport. Everyone at school is mad about rugby, but Eoin hasn't even held a rugby ball before! With new rules to learn, new friends to make and new teachers to get a handle on, he really doesn't need to have Richie Duffy, the resident bully, picking him out as his latest target! And just who is this guy, Brian, who looks so out-of-date, but gives great rugby advice?

'Every spy who was shot in Cork was buried so that nothing was known about them. They just disappeared.' These are the words of an IRA commander recalling the War of Independence in Cork city. The Year of Disappearances examines this claim and others like it. It uncovers a web of suspicion and paranoia that led to scores of men and boys being abducted from their homes before being executed as 'enemies of the Republic' and their bodies buried. While some of this took place during the War of Independence, most of it happened the following year, during the so-called 'Cork Republic'. The net result was to change the demographic of the south-eastern corner of the city for ever, with hundreds of families fleeing and up to fifty individuals buried in unmarked graves in surrounding areas. Using a wide range of previously untapped sources, Murphy shines new light on one of the darker episodes of twentieth-century Irish history.

»Winter in Maine: Das Buch des Jahres – ein meisterhafter Roman.« Aus der Begründung der Jury zum Buch des Jahres 2008 Der Winter in den Wäldern von Maine ist kalt und einsam. Bisher hat das Julius Winsome nicht gestört, er lebt schon lange allein, und er hat einen treuen Gefährten, seinen Pitbullterrier Hobbes. Als sein Hund eines Nachmittags offenbar absichtlich erschossen wird, bricht Julius’ Welt zusammen. Und er fasst einen erschreckenden Entschluss ... Julius Winsome lebt zurückgezogen in einer Jagdhütte in den Wäldern von Maine. Der Winter steht vor der Tür, er ist allein, aber er hat die über dreitausend Bücher seines Vaters zur Gesellschaft und vor allem seinen Hund Hobbes, ein treuer und verspielter Pitbullterrier. Eines Nachmittags, als er gerade vor dem Feuer sitzt und liest, hört er einen Schuss. Eigentlich nichts Besonderes, denn es ist gerade Jagdsaison. Dennoch wundert sich Winsome, weil der Schuss ganz in seiner Nähe gefallen ist, zu nahe. Als er vor die Tür geht, entdeckt er, dass Hobbes erschossen wurde – offenbar mit Absicht. Der Verlust trifft Julius mit ungeahnter Wucht. Er denkt an all die anderen Verluste in seinem Leben: die Mutter, die er gar nicht kannte, weil sie bei seiner Geburt starb, den Vater, der nie wieder heiratete, der ihn allein großzog und ihm die Sprache Shakespeares beibrachte und jetzt auch schon zwanzig Jahre nicht mehr da ist, an Claire, die einzige Frau in seinem Leben, die ihn einen Sommer lang liebte und dann wieder verschwand. Und jetzt Hobbes, sein letzter wahrer Freund. Am nächsten Tag holt er das Gewehr seines Großvaters aus der Scheune und zieht los, um seinen Hund zu rächen. Er macht Jagd auf die Jäger. Und obwohl diese Rache ebenso sinnlos ist wie die Tat, die ihr zugrundeliegt, verstehen wir diesen einsamen, verzweifelten Mörder, werden seine Komplizen in Eis und Schnee.

Es sabido por todos que tanto la actual legislación, como ya anteriormente la doctrina del Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña, realizan una apuesta clara y decidida por la custodia compartida -mejor dicho: guarda alternada-. En este trabajo de investigación, no pretendo hacer una exposición dogmática de la denominada guarda compartida, sino centrarme en elaborar un estudio exhaustivo de la doctrina de las Audiencias Provinciales de Cataluña. A partir de aquí, indirectamente me he visto obligado a analizar también cierta jurisprudencia del Tribunal Superior de Justicia de Cataluña y del Tribunal Supremo, dado que, como veremos, las propias Audiencias consolidan su doctrina mediante múltiples remisiones a los fundamentos jurídicos alegados por dichas instancias superiores.