Books by Kate Kerrigan

"e;They say there is no such thing as a perfect marriage, but of course there is. A perfect marriage is where two people live together for most of their lives until death separates them. What there is no such thing as is an easy marriage. And when it comes to love, people have somehow come around to equating love with ease"e;. New York food writer Tressa returns from honeymoon worried that she has married her impossibly handsome new husband Dan out of late-thirties panic instead of love. In 1930's Ireland, her grandmother, Bernadine, is married off to the local schoolteacher after her family are unable to raise a dowry for her to marry her true love, Michael. During the first year of her marriage, Tressa distracts herself from her stay-or-go dilemma by working on her grandmother's recipes, searching for solace and answers through their preparation. Through the stories of these two women RECIPES FOR A PERFECT MARRIAGE challenges the modern ideal of romantic love as a given and ponders whether true love can really be learned. 'This story is written with so much heart, its beat is palpable in every word on every page' Cecelia Ahern, author of P.S., I LOVE YOU

Aileen Doherty is leaving the island of Illaunmor for the first time. She can't wait to leave the confines of her sheltered life to go on her first adventure, tattie picking for the summer in Scotland, with her father and two older brothers.What she hadn't bargained for was meeting the irresistible Jimmy Walsh, who falls for flame-haired Aileen the moment he sets eyes on her. Spending each day working together side by side, Aileen and Jimmy fall passionately in love, until their happiness is cruelly cut short by a tragic accident which will change their young lives forever.Back on Illaunmor, Aileen finds solace in reviving an abandoned garden, which has been left as lonely and bereft as she has. Gradually, through the magic of hope, Aileen brings the garden back to life - and herself with it. The Lost Garden is a mesmerizing story about loss, friendship and the power of true love.

An uplifting, inspiring and heart-warming story of a woman truly ahead of her time. Of loves lost and found, of courage and determination. It is the 1930s and when her beloved husband, John, suddenly dies, young Ellie Hogan decides to leave Ireland and return to New York. She hopes that the city's vibrancy will distract her from her grief. But the Depression has rendered the city unrecognisable - gone is the energy and party atmosphere that Ellie once fell in love with, ten years before. Ellie plunges headfirst into a new life pouring all her passion and energy into running a home and refuge for the homeless. In return they give her the kind of love, support and friendship she needs to try and overcome her grief. Until, one day, someone she thought she'd never see again steps through her door. It seems that even the Atlantic isn't big enough to prevent the tragedies of the past catching up with her . . . The heart-rending but inspiring follow-up to TV Book Club bestseller ELLIS ISLAND.

Grace's mother Eileen is a great list maker, so when Grace walks into Eileen's kitchen to drop off a postal package and sees her garish 'To Do' pad on the counter, she thinks nothing of it, until she sneaks a look. There, at No 8, ranked in importance well below bread, telephone bill and bins is 'Tell G I have ovarian cancer, probably terminal'. Grace goes into shock, primarily at the thought that her mother is dying, but also at the fact that her mother simply couldn't tell her to her face. Is their relationship really so bad? Eileen has been brought up in rural Ireland in the 1950s, in thrall to the rules of her community - church first, then husband, then children. So she's had little time for herself and even now finds it impossible to put her own problems and desires to the fore. It is only when Grace confronts her, that she is able to go back over her past, to her own childhood, her early marriage, and the birth of her cherished only daughter to find memories of happiness and unbearable tragedy that have coloured her life forever. The Miracle of Grace is a poignant, but ultimately uplifting, novel that reveals a unique relationship between a mother and her daughter, and tells of a woman whose life has been restricted by the mores of duty, honour, and religion but who yearns for love.