Bøker av Kate O'Brien

Every child is born a physical, emotional and spiritual being. As parents and caregivers, it is our role to nurture these qualities and help young people mature into confident embodied adults and responsible custodians of our communities, economies and the Earth. But as the scaffolding of the old world has crumbled, we know that many members of Gen Z are experiencing anxiety, depression, addiction and even suicidality at epidemic levels. We want our children to grow up in an environment where they feel safe, loved, and can enjoy a deep sense of belonging. The sensitive, the open-hearted and empathetic ones are the most affected and these are the very people we need most in society. With contributions and timely solutions from leading scientists, doctors, inspirational teachers, visionaries and wisdom holders from varying traditions, the stories of hope in UN:Stuck offer guidance that will help our children mature into confident embodied adults packed with empathy, curiosity and a real sense of playfulness. The chapter titles in this book are rungs on a ladder of hope: Awakened Awareness, Emotional/Ethical intelligence, Interrelatedness (Ukama), Ethical Activism, Meaning & Purpose, Resilience/Courage/Curiosity, Creativity and Inclusion/The Whole Being. The result is a truly 360° vision of how we can support our young people, based on storytelling and wisdom in a way that reconnects them at a fundamental level with their world and seeds hope for the future.

Authors Paula Mee and Kate O'Brien had a lot of questions when they reached menopause. While doctors were matter-of-fact and friends had light-hearted conversations about the changes occurring in their bodies, there was no road map for what can, if you're unprepared, be a turbulent transition. Your Middle Years provides just that.

It is 1939, the last summer before the outbreak of war. French actress Angele Maury abandons a group of friends travelling through Ireland and takes herself to picturesque Drumaninch, birthplace of her dead father. She has come to make sense of her past. Self-conscious with her pale, exotic beauty, Angele braves the idiosyncratic world of the Kernahans: her enigmatic aunt Hannah, her ridiculous but loveable uncle Corney and her three cousins - Martin, charming, intense; Tom, devoted to his mother, and their bright sister Jo, who combines religious faith with a penchant for gambling.But is there some mystery surrounding the past? History threatens to repeat itself as Angele finds herself seduced by the beauty of Ireland, and by the love of two men...First published in 1943, The Last of the Summer is a perfectly structured psychological love story.

Spain in the years before the Armada, and high passion meets high politics. Ana, Princess of Eboli is a remarkable woman. Married at thirteen and losing an eye in a duel a year later, Ana is also heiress of Spain's leading family, widow of Philip II's wisest cousellor and rumoured to be the King's mistress. Unexpectedly - and unwisely - she falls in love with Don Antonio Perez, dandy, adulterer, skilled politician. With her unusual looks, her aristocratic arrogance and the simplicities of her faith, Ana cannot understand why her private life should become entangled with the affairs of state and, finally, incur the terrible vindictiveness of the King himself . . . Kate O'Brien's understanding and love of Spain enhance the beauty of this passionate and intelligent novel.

Mary Lavelle, a beautiful young Irish woman, travels to Spain to see some of the world before marrying her steadfast fiance John. But despite the enchanting surroundings and her three charming charges, life as governess to the wealthy Areavaga family is lonely and she is homesick. Then comes the arrival of the family's handsome, passionate - and married - son Juanito and Mary's loyalties and beliefs are challenged. Falling in love with Juanito and with Spain, Mary finds herself at the heart of a family and a nation divided.

Ireland, 1880 and a prosperous, provincial family observes the three great autumnal feasts of the Church. As Teresa Mulqueen lies dying, her family gather round her and beneath this drama another, no less poignant, unfolds. Unmarried daughter Agnes awaits the return of her sister Marie-Rose and brother-in-law Vincent. She adores her sister, but secretly, pasionately, loves Vincent. And their marriage, she knows, is unhappy...Ahead lies a terrible battle between her uncompromising faith and the intensity of her love. In this delicately imagined novel, originally published in 1934, Kate O'Brien lays bare the struggles between personal need and the Catholic faith with the sympathy and insight which is the hallmark of her craft.

Mere Marie-Helene once turned her back on life, sealing up her heart in order to devote herself to God. Now the formidable Mother Superior of an Irish convent, she has, for some time, been experiencing grave doubts about her vocation. But when she meets Anna Murphy, the youngest-ever boarder, the little girl's solemn, poetic nature captivates her and she feels 'a storm break in her hollow heart'. Between them an unspoken allegiance is formed that will sustain each through the years as the Reverend Mother seeks to combat her growing spiritual aridity and as Anna develops the strength to resist the conventional demands of her background.