We are currently celebrating our latest release “The Rural Gentleman” as reviewed by several major newspapers.

“…Occasionally one finds a real gem. This year I put one such book in my suitcase: The Rural Gentleman by Delia Maguire. It is the story of a small Irish community which moves from old ways to new, from poverty to prosperity as the EU brings unexpected wealth and opportunities and back to poverty as the bubble bursts. It also moves from natural obedience to the Church, to questioning, to the horror of the abuse scandals and then to some sort of accommodation. The central character is an enigmatic English priest with his own agenda. 

It beguiled a long flight and it was as good as a potted history of modern Ireland”

Ann Widdecombe (Daily Express)

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Later in 2017, we will be publishing Delia Maguire’s collection of short stories. The Sun Will Shine On Our Street Too.’

The title is taken from a Russian proverb, which essentially translates as ‘all will be well eventually’.

Many of these stories are set in communities that live along the wild Atlantic and all of them deal with situations faced by people who live in uncertain times.

Maguire has written a collection of short stories that question our perception of what it is to be an outsider, with a quiet fairy tale motif that threads its way through them.

There is the bittersweet romance of Kate Ann and The Christmas Tree. A mother’s social legacy haunts her returning daughter.

In ‘The Cornerstone’ the reception that greets the arrival of a Down Syndrome child is profound.

‘The Bracelet’ tells a story of how threats of economic disaster and repossession destabilize a woman who already has ghosts of abandonment and fear deep in her past.

Fairy tales have always stirred the deepest parts of the psyche and these exquisite fairy tales for grownups with their core of hope and understanding of human behaviour are no different. Coming out Autumn 2017, in time for a fabulous Christmas present.

Tale of the Cat Publications is delighted to present “Prowl”, a musical in the making from the supremely imaginative world of Kate Ann Thomas, a young up-and-coming playwright in the West of Ireland. This incredible play welcomes you to a reimagining of Edward Lear’s timeless classic, “The Owl and the Pussycat”, which follows the tumultuous course of these eponymous characters from their soulful first meeting as children to their eventual journey in a pea-green boat to lands far away. Characterised by intense twists and turns this play deals with all-singing, all-dancing villains, pirates, and prisoners and exquisitely documents the journey all heroes must undertake to find their way back to each other, and obtain that elusive happily ever after.

And coming, winter 2017, T.M.Mulvihill’s epic tale, Always Winter.

Honesty is indeed an honourable policy, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy. Truth is at the core of this epic tale. Always Winter deals with the nature of conflict in both family and society. Integrity is a key value – until holding to it means uncomfortable reckonings, and the innocent are caught in the crossfire.

A terrible teenage experience, leads Shannon O’Connell along a path of becoming someone she finds increasingly difficult to live with. Once honesty has been discounted as a possibility, the road can only lead to further deception with the cure increasingly looking more likely to be the killer.

This novel amongst other things calls into question the very purpose of life, the intricacies of identity, and the impact of losing and regaining faith