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Jenny Q, Unravelled 11 June 2013

I’m Jenny Q. How do you do?

Jenny Q, Unravelled

I am officially a middle child since the baby bro arrived. But it’s OK because he is the best little bundle ever. Even my big brother’s group Ten Guitars are well into the lil dude. That includes the gorgeous Stevie Lee Bolton with his looks that just mesmerize me!

And now my bro’s asked me to handle their fan mail – I’ll be secretary to the hottest boyband in Dublin! Will Stevie Lee FINALLY notice me?

But, in between babies, boys and crazy band fans, will I have enough time to help Dad or look after exhausted Mum before everything becomes UNRAVELLED?

She’s funny, frank and a surprisingly good knitter, meet Jenny Q in the hilarious series from Father Ted and Shameless star Pauline McLynn.

Jenny Q, Stitched Up 7 June 2012

Jenny Q, Stitched Up

Right, here’s how things are… My mother is pregnant. I shizz you not. My mum will be going around with a bump for all to see that she’s still, well, shagging. Oh god I can’t bear it – talk about a stitch-up.

THEN there’s Stevie Lee Bolton – every time I see him I’m like a stunned goldfish and just stand there with my mouth opening and closing.

So between my untakebackably embarrassing family and a certain Stevie Lee, how will I be ready for Teen Factor X – not even my friends know about my dodgy yodelings and secret obsession with becoming a star . . .

Funny, frank and surprisingly talented with a pair of knitting needles, meet Jenny Q in the hilarious new series from Father Ted and Shameless star Pauline McLynn.

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The Time is Now 4 January 2011

Out Now in Paperback

The Time is Now

Take a year in Soho and a house like no other…

From a woman grieving on New Year’s Day to a Victorian maid’s passion for poetry, from a wartime widower picking up the pieces of his life to a young musician with a dream, one magical house has witnessed the drama of people’s lives for generations. Meet the unforgettable residents of Claxton Court and discover the remarkable ties that bind them together.

 

‘Reading Pauline McLynn’s ambitious new novel is like watching the pieces of a puzzle slot together with a series of satisfying clicks. The Time is Now is a fascinating shift for McLynn. This compelling, intelligent and moving novel bodes well for the future’
Irish Times

‘The past, present and future all bleed into one another like watercolours on a canvas… time becomes irrelevant. The Time is Now is not Mrs Doyle… it is something very different from what has gone before, but it hints at a bright new direction for McLynn, the writer’
Irish Independent

‘McLynn bravely tackles some serious subjects with sensitivity, honesty and intelligence. It is an insightful and ultimately uplifting novel from a talented writer’
Irish Times

‘An easy page-turner and a serious study of mortality…
An accomplished, emotionally layered and intelligent book’
Sunday Business Post

‘Heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure – a beautifully told tale of ordinary people trying to get things right’
News of the World

Missing You Already 26 November 2008

Out now in Paperback

Missing You Already

‘Be prepared for a rollercoaster of emotions that will have you reaching for the Kleenex. A fantastic read’ RTÉ Guide

At a remote railway station in Norfolk, Kitty Fulton runs the ticket office. Nothing gives her more pleasure than to reunite lost possessions with their rightful owners, but it is an experience that remains elusive in her own world. With each passing day her mother’s Alzheimer’s pulls them further and further apart, then a series of extraordinary events challenges Kitty’s notions of duty and fidelity. In struggling to find the answers, she embarks on a journey that questions the importance of life and the way we must all live…


‘In Missing You Already, McLynn bravely tackles some serious subjects with sensitivity, honesty and intelligence. It is an insightful and ultimately uplifting novel from a talented writer’ The Irish Times

‘Her seventh novel is both an easy page-turner and a serious study of mortality… An accomplished, emotionally layered and intelligent book’ Sunday Business Post

‘Heartbreaking and uplifting in equal measure – a beautifully told tale of ordinary people trying to get things right. Kitty’s world will get under your skin and make you want to cry in parts’ News of the World

Bright Lights and Promises

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It’s time to follow your dreams…

It’s not easy being the mother of a twelve-year-old boy who’s in love with his babysitter and having trouble at school. Nor are matters helped by the unexpected arrival of an elderly mother who’s suddenly footloose and fancy free. There are times when Susie Vine wonders how she’ll ever survive.
At least she feels secure at Arland & Shaw, London’s leading theatrical agency, where her clients love her almost as much as they love themselves. But, as the New Year beckons, Susie feels there’s something missing. Then the man who broke her heart comes back into her life and she’s forced to ask herself whether she was right to leave him all those years ago. Or is the man for her waiting in the wings elsewhere…?

Praise for Pauline McLynn’s previous novels:

A gripping, life-enhancing novel…McLynn is a writer who deserves to be applauded for her own voice. Readers of popular fiction should be glad she has found it Irish Times

The main characters are multi-faceted and fascinating…McLynn deals compassionately and realistically with sensitive, complex issues Ireland on Sunday

Acute snap-shots of lives…engaging characters with just the right amount of redemption…McLynn can tell a strong story Sunday Tribune

It pulls at the heartstrings, highlights a few harsh realities of life, but yet still manages to retain its upbeat “McLynn” tone Irish World

The writing is crisp and direct…beautifully complex Evening Herald, Dublin

A warm, witty, humorous tale that you can’t put down Sunday World

madaboutbooks.com

Summer in the City

imageLucy White can’t quite believe what’s happened to her happy, ordinary life. Ending up homeless – not to mention husbandless – has come as an almighty shock. All she wants to do is lie low for a while, but when she arrives in a quiet street in South London she’s in for a surprise.

The residents of Farewell Square are anything but quiet. There’s a housewife with a secret that needs to be shared, a publicist whose behaviour outside office hours would shock his clients and an artist who can’t seem to control her lodgers. They’re as intrigued by Lucy as she is by them, and as she’s drawn into their midst, she realises that life can be kind as well as cruel. And that no one has to be lonely if they don’t want to be.

Praise for Pauline McLynn’s previous novels:

‘Pauline McLynn is still fondly remembered for her role as Mrs Doyle in the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted but her career as an author may yet prove her most memorable move’
Scotland on Sunday

‘Mrs Doyle may be gone but long live Pauline McLynn’
Irish World

‘She is a gifted storyteller as well as an exceptional comic actress’
Sunday Express

Something for the Weekend

imageWhen private investigator Leo Street is sent away to County Kildare to spy on the supposedly cheating wife of a loathsome client, she’s delighted to be getting away from rainy Dublin and her hopeless, permanently resting actor boyfriend Barry. The one catch is that she has to masquerade as a member of a cookery course and the only piece of culinary equipment Leo can handle is a tin opener. ‘Weekend Entertaining Part One’ is daunting to say the least.
As she strips away layers of marital infidelity – not to mention several other scandalous secrets – she battles with bread-making and brûlée. But where will it all end – in triumph or tragedy?
Pauline McLynn, who shot to fame playing Mrs Doyle, the priests‚ potty housekeeper, in Father Ted, introduces us to an irresistible heroine in her hilarious first novel, Something for the Weekend.

Something for the Weekend introduces an amiable anti-heroine who clearly has a great deal of life in her’
The Times

‘A fabulously funny novel’
Sunday Independent

‘Packed with cheeky sarcasm and wit’
Company

‘An upbeat, chatty novel’
Daily Mail

‘A novel that demonstrates a sure ear for dialogue’
Marie Claire

‘Lively characters – satisfying authenticity’
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‘A breezy, humorous debut, a fast-moving, entertaining read’
Sunday Tribune

‘A wonderfully warm, witty debut, with one of the most engaging Irish characters in a long time’
Sunday Business Post

‘Scandal, infidelity, secrets and soufflé are all explored with a healthy dollop of humour’
Express

Better than a Rest

imageSometimes a change is better than a rest.
Intrepid private eye Leo Street is on the trail of an adulterous husband when her clapped-out car causes her cover to be blown. It’s time to draft in Ciara Gillespie, the teenage tearaway whom she befriended on her last case.
At first, Ciara’s methods of surveillance leave a lot to be desired, but soon she’s unearthing the secret life of an obstetrician who likes to dabble in genetic engineering.
With Ciara in control, Leo’s free to pursue other matters, such as who’s making anonymous phone calls to her friend Maeve, and why there’s pandemonium at the local crèche. Then she accepts an invitation from Andy Raynor – an old flame she’s never fully extinguished – and sparks begin to fly.

‘With the perfect balance of humour, adventure and romance, Pauline makes crafting witty, fast-paced fiction look like a doddle’
OK magazine

‘Sparky crime caper combining a cracking plot with nice one-liners’
Eve

‘It’s entertaining and it’s also life’
Irish Tatler

‘Funny and snappy, will sit well on a shelf next to such writers as Cathy Kelly, Morag Prunty and Marian Keyes’
Sunday Tribune

‘Jenny Colgan meets Lauren Henderson – cheeky and chirpy crime’
Mirror

Right on Time

imageEvery second counts for private investigator Leo Street on her latest case. She must find a missing teenager in the drug-fuelled streets of Dublin before it’s too late. But with a watch that’s stopped and a biological clock that’s taken over, it’s not going to be easy.
Leo’s irrepressible sidekick Ciara, her mischievous mutt No. 4, and Ciara’s gorgeous twin brother Ronan, lend a helping hand. But can they track down the missing girl and save the day, or will a case of bad timing put all their lives at risk?

‘Fabulously funny’
Sunday Independent

‘An amiable anti-heroine who clearly has a great deal of life in her’ The Times

‘The perfect balance of humour, adventure and romance’
OK magazine

‘The kind of chatty, self-deprecating humour that has seen the former Father Ted housekeeper likened to an Irish Bridget Jones’
Irish Times

The Woman on the Bus

imageIs it the end of the road or just the beginning?
It’s a typical Tuesday evening in Kilbrody. Cathy Long is on her way to collect her drunken father from the pub. Ozzy O’Reilly is in the graveyard, watching the Dublin bus through his binoculars. Charlie Finn is pulling pints, when suddenly it hits him: he’s bored. And that’s when the woman from the bus walks through his door and drinks herself into oblivion.
Now the whole village wants to know – Who is the woman on the bus?. The question is, will she tell them?

‘Pauline McLynn is still fondly remembered for her role as Mrs Doyle in the Channel 4 sitcom Father Ted but her career as an author may yet prove her most memorable move. A stylishly written, hugely enjoyable journey into Maeve Binchy-Marian Keyes country. Laugh out loud funny, The Woman on the Bus also packs a serious heavyweight punch. All this and a tender love story too’
Scotland on Sunday

‘A funny yet heart-warming tale about human relationships and frailties – the characters in her books are not only believable but extremely likeable’
Irish World

‘A deeply moving story. The Irish community is evoked in wonderfully lyrical passages. She is a gifted storyteller as well as an exceptional comic actress’
Sunday Express