Book Shelf

September 2007, UK

When the boys are away, the girls will play

After three years trailing the globe behind her boyfriend, Simon, a professional sailor, Meg Miller has finally had enough of living out of a suitcase. But when she returns to Dublin with their toddler, Lily, and Dan, her eleven-year-old son from a previous relationship, she quickly realises that all her friends have moved on, leaving her with only her rather kooky family to rely on for help and support, including her perma-single sex-obsessed sister, Hattie, and Dan’s flaky but dangerously charming father, Sid.

Then Meg discovers her new neighbour, Tina is in the same boat. Tina’s a ‘work widow’ - her banker husband, Oliver, works in London from Monday to Friday, leaving Tina with only her baby sons for company. The two new friends vow to make the most of their time together and start to rather enjoy their man-free life.

When Simon announces he’s moving home, for good, Meg quickly discovers that having a man around all the time isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. And that sometimes living apart is easier than living together.

But when Simon’s past life comes back to haunt him, Meg realizes it's time to stop playing and start fighting for what's important in life.

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Exclusive Extract: Chapter 1 of When the Boys are Away

My book is called ‘Behind Closed Doors’ and it’s out in March. It’s the story of a single woman who finds herself at a baby shower with lots of married mothers. She has to interview a certain Irish film star to keep her job, but how on earth is she going to convince him? A woman at the party holds the answer

What is the Open Door Series?
Editor of the series, Patricia Scanlon says “New Island and I have a common aim: to remove the stigma that people with literacy problems face. Through the Open Door Series we want to introduce them to the joy of reading, as well as empowering them through improved literacy skills.”

For more details see www.newisland.ie/opendoor

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Brand New in Paperback

The story of three sisters, Wendy, Gemma and Mia and their Abba tribute band, AbbaFab. Bittersweet, touching and laugh out loud funny, this is a book to savour.

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‘Top marks again to Ms Webb for cheekily entertaining those of us who grew up on a social diet of Bjorn Again.’ - Irish Independent 2005

‘Sarah Webb is just getting better and better with every book.’ - Woman’s Way 2005

In the Irish village of Burnaby, life is about to change for three very different women, Molly, Paige and Kate.

‘A warm and witty tale of romantic small-town Ireland.’ - Image Magazine, 2004

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Some Kind of Wonderful was a bestseller in Ireland and was number one on the UK Heatseeker’s Chart for three weeks.

Rosie’s life has become one long string of exhausting worries and stresses. When her husband leaves her, she decides to change her life with surprising consequences.

‘Will give you a glow from the inside out.’ - Company Magazine

Can men and women ever really be friends? That’s the age-old question posed in this delightfully witty and rather wicked book. Lucy and Max have been friends forever, but that’s about to change!

‘Highly entertaining and wickedly romantic comedy’ - Sunday World

Always the Bridesmaid was number one in Ireland for 9 weeks! It’s currently available in Ireland, the UK, the US, Indonesia and other countries.

Amy is fed up. Everyone around her seems to be getting married and her own engagement has just broken up. What’s wrong with her?

‘A rollicking hilarious romance. Definitely one to carry on the plane.’- RTE Guide

‘Highly entertaining and wickedly romantic comedy.’ - Sunday World

Three Times a Lady has just been published in the UK.

It’s the story of three women who are all in love with the same man, the enigmatic Mark Mulhearne. But three into one won’t go, or will it?

Details from Melissa herself:

This is a lovely book of short stories and true-life recollections that I've been involved in compiling, which is in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation.

This book is something I'd been hoping to get off the ground for a while, as the South Tipp branch of the IHF were a fantastic support to my mother when she was undergoing cancer treatment many years back (she's doing great now, thank God!).  But since then, I've always promised myself I'd try and do something to help in return. And when Poolbeg kindly agreed to publish, I put a few feelers out amongst some authors I knew with a view to contributing, and was completely taken aback by their overwhelmingly positive response! Nearly every single author I asked came back with an unequivocal 'Yes' and almost all had their own account of someone who'd experienced the great service and care the Irish Hospice Foundation provides.

Buoyed by this fantastic reaction, we then managed to get some media personalities involved (again with considerable success) and before I knew it, it was all happening...

And so A Little Help from My Friends was born and is now at editing stage and scheduled for publication in October. It really is a fantastic and varied selection of contributors from some of our most successful Irish authors and hugely popular media personalities - all of whom agreed to provide either a short story or true-life autobiographical piece with a friendship theme, and who are donating their portion of the royalites to the charity. There are way too many contributors to list here, (and I'm very worried I'd leave somebody out!) but it's been an amazing project so far, the stories and pieces are terrific, and here's hoping the book will be a huge success.

Another great collection of short stories from lots of your favourite Irish women authors. My contribution is called 'How Emily Got Promoted'.