Roddy Doyle

Old friends, now married and with grown-up children, their lives have taken seemingly similar paths. But Joe has a secret he has to tell Davy, and Davy, a grief he wants to keep from Joe. Both are not the men they used to be. Neither Davy nor Joe know what the night has in store, but as two pints turns to three, then five, and the men set out to revisit the haunts of their youth, the ghosts of Dublin entwine around them. Their first buoyant forays...

Told from the perspective of the Russian dog Tsygan, this is the story of the first living creatures to be sent into space - the ?star dogs? of the title. Roddy Doyle?s typically accessible voice is complemented by the illuminating illustrations of Steve Simpson, together immersing a new generation of young readers in the incredible true story of the Soviet space dogs, one of the twentieth century?s true feats of science.

The Commitments are a band with a mission - bringing soul to Dublin. Led by Jimmy Rabbitte, a man with ambition, coached by Joey 'The Lips' Fagan, an old man with a trumpet, protected by Mickah Wallace, owner of the most feared forehead in Barrytown.

Just moved into a new apartment, alone for the first time in years, Victor Forde goes every evening to Donnelly's pub for a pint, a slow one. One evening his drink is interrupted. A man in shorts and pink shirt brings over his pint and sits down. He seems to know Victor's name and to remember him from school. Says his name is Fitzpatrick. Victor dislikes him on sight, dislikes too the memories that Fitzpatrick stirs up of five years being taught by...

'Bullfighting' is Roddy Doyle's eagerly anticipated second collection; a series of bittersweet tales on men and middle age, revealing a panorama of Ireland today.