Little Beauty

A unforgettable story about one woman’s struggle to do the best for her child.

Finely crafted and featuring a brilliantly complicated heroine, Jameson’s heartbreaking third novel is a moving story about social mores and the power of parental love.

Original characters and flinty dialogue . . . [a] darkly stylish tale of human behaviour

Funny, engaging and ultimately heart-breaking . . . an impressive portrayal of motherhood and sacrifice.

Alison Jameson grew up on a farm in the Irish midlands, a secluded and beautiful place that continues to inspire her work. She is the bestselling author of This Man and Me, which was nominated for the IMPAC Literary Award, and Under My Skin. Her third novel, Little Beauty, was published by Doubleday Ireland in 2013. An English and History graduate of University College Dublin, she worked in advertising for many years before becoming an author. Home is Dublin where she lives with her husband and son.

Laura Quinn has lived on the same remote yet beautiful island off the West Coast of Ireland since she was born, and leaving it behind seems the only way for her life to really begin. 
 A year later, Laura is back, and this time she is not alone; the company of her new baby, Matthew, is all she needs. But the consequences of her return are astonishing, and soon Laura has courageous decisions to make – decisions that could last a lifetime and break her heart for ever. 
 Stylish and captivating, Little Beauty tells a powerful story of love, motherhood and one woman’s courage to survive.

Under My Skin

A thoughtful, sensitive work on the nature of love

Wry and sharp insights ... kept me gripped

Alison Jameson lives in Dublin where she combines writing with occasional work in her former business, advertising. Under My Skin is her second novel.

Hope and Larry marry on a whim. They are twenty-two and crazy for each other. What Larry doesn't know is that behind her bohemian spirit and off-beat humour, Hope hides a secret. What Hope doesn't know is that secrets tear people apart ... 
 
The only person Hope confides in is New Yorker Matilda, an internet friend who says the right things and Hope has grown to trust. After she and Larry break up, Hope knows Matilda will be there for her no matter what. 
 
Hope never really gives up on Larry and when she hears he has disappeared in New York, she drops everything and goes to look for him. And, despairing at ever finding him, she turns to Matilda. 
 
But Matilda online and Matilda in real life are two very different people. And Hope is about to find out that what you hide about yourself &ndash; from friends and from lovers - can have unforeseen consequences ...

This Man and Me

Alison Jameson was a journalist and English teacher before going into advertising in 1990. Before becoming a full-time writer in 2005 she was a director of leading agency, Irish International BBDO. She lives in Dublin. This Man and Me is her first novel.

Until her French father walks out of her life at twelve Helen Wilton is Hélène Fournier. Apart from her name, the plucky, smart and affectionate young girl also loses an indefinable part of her essence. 
 
Helen grows up to become a mass of intriguing contradictions: as warm-hearted as she is sharp-witted, as steadfast in her friendships as she is eclectic in her loves, as worldly and stylish as she is bookish and academic. And when she gets tripped up by the contradictions - or by the absurd and confusing vagaries of love - Helen picks herself up and gets on with it because she's too much of a one-off to wait around to be rescued. 
 
Maybe she'll never stop having to pick herself up. Or maybe she'll realize that rediscovering the inner Hélène and facing the loss of her father are the keys to her future ... and to finding real love. 
 
In this stunning debut novel Alison Jameson has created a captivating heroine and written a wonderfully witty, tender, knowing and truly original story of modern love.

Alison Jameson

A beautifully intricate study which lays bare the twin pulls of joy and despair that are the metronome beat of life.

This wise, beautiful, sympathetic novel . . . It's mature and measured, and speckled with phrases and thoughts that demand to be read again, and relished, and remembered.

No more satisfying book has been published all year . . .  It’s a wise, touching story about redemption from an author with a commanding voice. Every page is a delight.

On his way back up from the yard Bird had seen something white and round – a girl who had curled herself into a ball. Lifting her was like retrieving a ball of newspaper from out of the grass or an empty crisp bag that someone had flung over the ditch. She seemed to lack the bones and meat and muscle of real people. She felt as if she was filled with feathers. 
 
On the day Midge Connors comes hurtling into Bird Keegan’s life, she flings open his small, quiet world. He and his two sisters, Olive and Margaret, have lived in the same isolated community all their lives, each one more alone than the others can know. 
 
Taking in damaged, sharp-edged Midge, Bird invites the scorn of his neighbours and siblings. And as they slowly mend each other, family bonds – and the tie of the land – begin to weigh down on their tentative relationship. Can it survive the misunderstandings, contempt and violence of others? 
 
A poignant and powerful study of the emotional lives of three siblings and the girl who breaks through their solitude.

Alison Jameson

Praise for This Family of Things

A beautifully intricate study which lays bare the twin pulls of joy and despair that are the metronome beat of life.

This wise, beautiful, sympathetic novel . . . It's mature and measured, and speckled with phrases and thoughts that demand to be read again, and relished, and remembered.

No more satisfying book has been published all year . . . It’s a wise, touching story about redemption from an author with a commanding voice. Every page is a delight.

A beautifully intricate study which lays bare the twin pulls of joy and despair that are the metronome beat of life.

This wise, beautiful, sympathetic novel . . . It's mature and measured, and speckled with phrases and thoughts that demand to be read again, and relished, and remembered.

No more satisfying book has been published all year . . . It’s a wise, touching story about redemption from an author with a commanding voice. Every page is a delight.

A beautifully intricate study which lays bare the twin pulls of joy and despair that are the metronome beat of life.

This wise, beautiful, sympathetic novel . . . It's mature and measured, and speckled with phrases and thoughts that demand to be read again, and relished, and remembered.

No more satisfying book has been published all year . . . It’s a wise, touching story about redemption from an author with a commanding voice. Every page is a delight.

Books by Alison Jameson

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