Winding Stair Bookshop

POSTPONED-

Unfortunately our event for Lucia Osborne-Crowley's THE LASTING HARM will have to be postponed tonight. But don't worry, watch this space and we'll keep you updated for the rescheduled date in a few weeks time.

Apologies for any inconvenience, we hope to see you all in August!

Go raibh míle maith agat.
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'Powerful, vivid and affecting.' DAVID NICHOLLS 'Urgent, necessary and courageous' ELIZABETH DAY 'Brilliantly unsettling' GUARDIAN 'Will make you think about trauma in a new light' EVENING STANDARD 'I understand – and sympathise with – the feeling you might have that you already know the Jeffrey Epstein story. But I am not here to tell you a story about Jeffrey Epstein, or even Ghislaine Maxwell. I am here to tell you the stories of ten women, many of whom have never spoken at length before, about the real impact of s*xual trauma on their lives.' In November 2021, Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of five counts of s*x-trafficking of minors, and now faces twenty years in prison for the role she played in Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of four girls.

The trial was meticulously covered by journalist and legal reporter Lucia Osborne-Crowley, one of the only reporters allowed into the courtroom every day. The Lasting Harm is her account of that trial, a gripping true crime drama and a blistering critique of a criminal justice system ill-equipped to deliver justice for abuse survivors, no matter the outcome. Giving voice to four women and their testimonies, and supplemented by exclusive interviews, The Lasting Harm brings this incendiary trial to life, questions our age-old appetite for crime and punishment and offers a new blueprint for meaningful reparative justice.

NEXT OPEN MIC TONIGHT 7pm
All welcome!
BYOB - € 3

Big big thank you to all the readers and listeners who made our first Open Mic of 2024 such a success last month! It's amazing to have so much beautiful work and talent shared in the space and we're looking forward to doing it all again tonight! 🎤

If you can't make it this time, no need to worry. We'll be hosting our Bookshop Open Mics every third Friday of the Month throughout the Summer- see you then!

Go raibh míle

Some photos from our last Open Mic of 2023 🎤📚 We're very excited to be back this Friday 24th of May with the first of our Summer Open Mics this year 🌞 Only 4 days to go!

This is a BYOB event (€3 corkage fee) starting at 7pm.

Poetry, Prose, Comedy, Music - all are welcome.
Sign up by dropping us a message in advance or sign up in the bookshop all day on the 24th.

We hope to see you there x

The sun is finally back and so is our Bookshop OPEN MIC 🌞 Sign up for readers is throughout the day but we start promptly at 7pm Friday Evening May 24th. 😍 We cannot wait to hear what you have been working on during the winter months!

Poetry, stories, comedy and ceol - we want to hear it! All welcome whether you're a reader or listener. This is a BYOB event with a corkage fee of €3 (with an exception for readers.)

And if you can't make it this time, no worries! We'll be hosting the event on the third Friday of every month throughout the Summer.

We hope to see you then! x

Delighted to share our beautiful new Winding Stair book bags! 🫶📚

These are especially special as they were designed by our very own bookseller . We hope you love them as much as we do. 💛

Available in the bookshop or to order online.

Author and Podcaster Jan Brierton dropped inbto sign her most recent poetry book.

Author Karl Geary dropped in to sign his books. Such a popular novel!

Newly published: Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery.
‘New York City, 1966. Seventeen-year-old Mae lives in a run-down apartment with her alcoholic mother and her mother's sometimes-boyfriend, Mikey. She is turned off by the petty girls at her high school, and the sleazy men she typically meets. When she drops out, she is presented with a job offer that will remake her world entirely: she is hired as a typist for the artist Andy Warhol.

Warhol is composing an unconventional novel by recording the conversations and experiences of his many famous and alluring friends. Tasked with transcribing these tapes alongside several other girls, Mae quickly befriends Shelley and the two of them embark on a surreal adventure at the fringes of the countercultural movement. Going to parties together, exploring their womanhood and s*xuality, this should be the most enlivening experience of Mae's life. But as she grows increasingly obsessed with the tapes and numb to her own reality, Mae must grapple with the thin line between art and voyeurism and determine how she can remain her own person as the tide of the sixties sweeps over her.’

Just published: Sally Diamond by Liz Nugent.
‘From the Number 1 bestselling author of Our Little Cruelties and Skin Deep

Sally Diamond cannot understand why what she did was so strange. She was only doing what her father told her to do, to put him out with the rubbish when he died.

Now Sally is the centre of attention, not only from the hungry media and police detectives, but also a sinister voice from a past she cannot remember. As she begins to discover the horrors of her childhood, Sally steps into the world for the first time, making new friends and big decisions, and learning that people don't always mean what they say.

But who is the man observing Sally from the other side of the world? And why does her neighbour seem to be obsessed with her? Sally's trust issues are about to be severely challenged . . .’

Happy World Book Day everyone. A day to celebrate books and reading 📚 📚 📚

Another author visit today! Thanks to Declan Toohey for coming in to sign copies of his debut novel, Perpetual Comedown.
‘In breathless prose, Declan Toohey weaves a contemporary yarn of academic intrigue and youthful irreverence, s*xual fluidity and neurodiversity. Experimental, trippy, hilarious, compassionate, Perpetual Comedown is a riotous reckoning in the construction of the self.’

Thanks to Kathleen MacMahon for dropping into us today to sign copies of her excellent new novel, The Home Scar. Interesting to learn that she once worked in original Winding Stair Cafe upstairs years ago.

Many thanks to the charming Sebastian Barry for coming in today to sign copies of his new novel, Old God’s Time. Signed copies available while stocks last. About the book: ‘From the two-time Booker Prize finalist author, a dazzlingly written novel exploring love, memory, grief, and long-buried secrets

Recently retired policeman Tom Kettle is settling into the quiet of his new home, a lean-to annexed to a Victorian castle overlooking the Irish Sea. For months he has barely seen a soul, catching only glimpses of his eccentric landlord and a nervous young mother who has moved in next door. Occasionally, fond memories return, of his family, his beloved wife June and their two children, Winnie and Joe.

But when two former colleagues turn up at his door with questions about a decades-old case, one which Tom never quite came to terms with, he finds himself pulled into the darkest currents of his past.

A beautiful, haunting novel, in which nothing is quite as it seems, Old God’s Time is about what we live through, what we live with, and what may survive of us.’

From the Women's Prize longlisted author of Nothing But Blue Sky

'The home scar - that's what they call the mark limpets make on the rock when they return.'

'Wait, they leave the rock?'

'Of course. How else would they survive?

On opposite sides of the world, half-siblings Cassie and Christo have built their lives around work, intent on ignoring their painful past.

When a dramatic storm in Galway hits the headlines, they're drawn back there to revisit a glorious childhood summer, the last before their mother died. But their journey uncovers memories of a far less happy summer - one that had tragic consequences.

Confronted with the havoc their mother left in her wake, Cassie and Christo are forced to face their past and - ready or not - to deal with the messy tangle of parental love and neglect that shaped them.

Happy Valentine’s Day ❤️ these cute cards from are in store if you’re a last minute kind of person. Also lots of books on love and books not on love, self-love, friendships or lots of other things like murder and dystopian futures because who really wants to read about love all the time?

We are open today until 6pm. Drop in for a browse. We’re sure to have something to entice you.

Lots of lovely books on love and love-related themes for Valentine’s Day or just general reading! Spread the love everyday with the gift of a book ❤️

We hope everyone is enjoying this new St. Bridget Bank Holiday. Here is an appropriately titled new book to get stuck into: Bad Bridget; Crime, Mayhem and the lives of Irish emigrant women. ‘ Ireland in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries was not a good place to be a woman. Among the wave of emigrants from Ireland to North America were many, many young women who travelled on their own, hoping for a better life. Some lived lives of quiet industry and piety. Others quickly found themselves in trouble - bad trouble, and on an astonishing scale. Elaine Farrell and Leanne McCormick, creators of the celebrated 'Bad Bridget' podcast, have unearthed a world in which Irish women actually outnumbered Irish men in prison, in which you could get locked up for 'stubbornness', and in which a serial killer called Lizzie Halliday was described by the New York Times as 'the worst woman on earth'. They reveal the social forces that bred this mayhem and dysfunction, through stories that are brilliantly strange, sometimes funny, and often moving. From s*x workers and thieves to kidnappers and killers, these Bridgets are young women who have gone from the frying pan of their impoverished homeland to the fire of vast North American cities. Bad Bridget is a masterpiece of social history and true crime, showing us a fascinating and previously unexplored world.’

Beautiful second volume of Lady Augusta’s Irish Myths and Legends just published and in stock now.

Today we celebrate St. Brigid’s Day. Delve into this new book to learn more about Saint Brigid and other amazing Irish Women.
‘In Ireland, the first of February marks the beginning of Spring and the celebration of Lá Fhéile Bríde, St Brigid’s Day. Like many of other feast days of the Irish calendar, Brigid predates Christianity – her roots lie in the Celtic festival of Imbolc, the feast of the goddess Brigid, celebrated at least five millennia ago. In old Irish, Imbolc means "in the belly", a reference to lambing and the renewal Spring promises.

Brigid was a triple goddess – of healing, fire, and of poetry – and the saint who took her name, born in 450 AD, carried some of those same associations. The patron saint of poets and midwives, by legend, she maintained a sacred fire by the monastery she founded in Kildare. Alongside St Patrick and St Columcille, she is one of Ireland’s three patron saints.’

Just published: My Father’s House by Joseph O’Connor. ‘My Father’s House is inspired by the extraordinary true story of Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who, together with his accomplices, risked his life to smuggle Jews and escaped Allied prisoners out of Italy right under the nose of his N**i nemesis. Suspenseful and beautifully written, My Father’s House tells an unforgettable story of love, faith, sacrifice, and courage.’

Some great new titles in today…

There he is now…

Enjoy Little Christmas, or Nollaig na mBan or women’s Christmas, as it’s known in Ireland. Traditionally a day for women to take a day off and meet up with friends, now more of a day to appreciate the women in your life and raise a glass.

Wishing you all a happy and healthy New Year with plenty of wonderful books to read 📚 📚 📚