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Banished Babies
 Author: Mike Milotte
Publisher: New Island Books 1997

This book tells the story of the baby export business from Irish orphanages. These orphanages consisted mainly of illegitimate children born to unmarried mothers in a society where this was not excepted. It is an intriguing story of how young mothers were forced to sign adoption papers denying all rights to their children. The book highlights the role the Catholic Church and the various government agencies in this scheme. In America it was widely known that children were freely available from Ireland and so children were exported to good Catholic families, however the potential welfare of these children was never investigated. Years later when these children or their mothers tried to trace each other they again were denied information by these orphanages. This book highlights some heartbreaking stories.




Famine Diary
Authors: Keegan/Mangan
Publisher: Wolfhounnd Press 1997

This book is the journal of Gerard Keegan, a teacher, who journeyed from a famine stricken Ireland to the New World - Canada. This book explains the harrowing journey aboard a Famine ship giving a day to day account of the journey across the Atlantic. It also explains how the famine in Ireland was distorted by the English press.



The Irish Virus
Author: Peter Flynn
Publisher: Curragower Books 1999

This book tells the story of how a young man developed his taste and love for alcohol, and how he consequently came to rely on it to get through each day. The effect alcohol and his drinking habits had on his life, relationships, his career are explained, and how one day he made the decision to fight back the dreaded Irish Virus.



The Beat
Author: David Fine
Publisher: Sitric Books Ltd 2000

This book tells the story of life on the streets as told through the eyes of a Dublin Taxi driver. The driver tells of his dealings with the working girls, his friendships with them, their addictions and how he became their saviour in the early hours of many a morning. It is the story of 16 women and the underworld of Dublin's streets.



Loughcrew - The Cairns
Author: Jean McMann
Publisher: After Hours Books 1993

This is a guide through the tombs at LoughCrew, Oldcastle, Co.Meath, an explanation of their significance, some legends and uses. A step by step guide to this Neolithic cemetery including maps, drawings, and details of excavations and artifacts discovered.



Always in the Convent Shadow
Author: Margaret Mately
Publisher: Wolfhound Press 1991

An Irish orphan's story, of how ten and a half years in an orphanage run by Good Sheperd Nuns made her forget her old life, and how poorly it prepared her for life in the outside world. A story of how a determined young girl sought to find a life, a job, and deal with everyday things which never concerned her before such as managing money.



Sold into Marriage
Author: Sean Boyne
Publisher: O' Brien Press 1998

This is a true story of a 16 year old girl in the 1970's who was sold to an elderly farmer. A marriage arranged by her father, which led Nuala to a life of physical and mental abuse, rape and an unwanted pregnancy.



The Light in the Window
Author: June Goulding
Publisher: Poolbeg Press Ltd 1998

This books tells the story of a newly qualified midwife who takes her first post in a home for unmarried mothers. She guides these frightened girls through labour without pain relief and in a place where asking for help was forbidden by the nuns as these girls deserved their fate. June became a friend to these girls and consequently they laboured for days in silence until June returned to deliver their babies.



Lyn - A story of Prostitution
Authors: Lyn Madden & June Levine
Publisher: Attic Press 1987

This is a story about how a Dublin Prostitute lives a daily routine of turning tricks, dealing with an abusive pimp, new girls on the beat, her kids and the gardai. This book evolves around the murder of a working girl Dolores and the effect it has on Lyn's life.



Evelyn
Author:Evelyn Doyle
Publisher:Orion 2002

This is a true story of how an Irish father in the 1950's sought to regain custody of his six children having been forced to place them in state care, following his wife leaving him for another man. Desmond Dolye was left his children in temporary state care as he went to England to search for work, only to discover on his return that he could not have his children back. This story is told through the eyes of his nine year old daughter Evelyn and her days in the convent under the care of the nuns, and the family's fight to be reunited once again.