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Braywatch
Braywatch
Dec 31, 2025 3:25 AM

Author:Ross O'Carroll-Kelly

Braywatch

South Dublin's favourite son thought he could face any challenge - until he was asked to cross the bridge over the River Dargle.

For Ross O'Carroll-Kelly - schools rugby hero, celebrated bon vivant and lover of beautiful women - life has suddenly become complicated.

His father has been accused of rigging a General Election, his seventy-year-old mother is about to bring six surrogate babies into the world, and his daughter is being hailed as 'Ireland's answer to Greta Thunberg', telling everyone who cares to listen that the end of the world is nigh.

As if that wasn't bad enough, the Greatest Rugby Player Never to Play for Ireland has a nagging sense that he has to more to contribute to the beautiful game.

Now he's been offered a job coaching an underachieving school who've been waiting almost a century for their moment of glory. The challenge is to persuade a collection of jokers, chokers and forty-a-day smokers that they have what it takes to win the Leinster Schools Senior Cup.

The only drawback ... the school is in Bray!

Praise for the Ross O'Carroll-Kelly series:

'Ross is a national institution ... wicked humour and sharp observation' Irish Times

'One of the funniest writers in the land'Irish Independent

'Extraordinarily accurate and outstandingly funny' Sunday Business Post

Reviews

Ross is a national institution ... wicked humour and sharp observation

—— Irish Times

Riotously funny ... Surrender to laugh out loud humour yet again

—— Irish Examiner

One of the funniest writers in the land

—— Irish Independent

Extraordinarily accurate and outstandingly funny

—— Sunday Business Post

A high-concept romcom that's stuffed full of belly laughs and nostalgia

—— Red

Such a fun, clever, original and massively entertaining read . . . I love it, you'll love it

—— Lindsey Kelk

I LOVED this book . . . I highly recommend The Lock In if you fancy a fun summer time read

—— Carrie Hope Fletcher

Beautifully written, warm and fun with a dose of early noughties nostalgia, The Lock In is a perfect summer read

—— Laura Kay, author of The Split

I loved this book. Brilliantly written and so perceptive on the trials and tribulations of Generation Rent, it's also screamingly funny, deliciously nostalgic and really just a very fun time. I almost wish they'd stayed locked in for longer

—— Lauren Bravo

An immensely readable, witty and well-crafted debut . . . a very millennial tale of love, loneliness and friendship

—— i

This will have you both cringing and crying with laughter

—— Woman's Weekly

On one hand a feel-good, laugh out loud funny escapist read, and on another a blistering critique of twentysomethings' experience of renting in the capital

—— Evening Standard

This hilarious debut will give you all the lols you need this summer. A highly relatable comedy about flatmates, hangovers and terrible landlords

—— Evening Standard

Funny and compelling from page one and so well written. Such a brilliant premise and really well executed. Officially a huge fan of Phoebe Luckhurst!

—— Lucy Vine, bestselling author of Hot Mess

A funny, joyful hug of a book! A nostalgic, pitch perfect ode to the awkwardness and hilarity of yearning teenage years and house sharing in your twenties

—— Cressida McLaughlin

Loved the concept and characters. . . it's very funny

—— Sarra Manning

Proper laugh-out-loud stuff

—— Fabulous Magazine

'Best new good book to read'

—— Cosmopolitan

Irresistible premise . . . addictive

—— i

One to watch

—— The Bookseller

Blissfully funny

—— i

Joyful

—— Stylist

[Mohamed] creates an intriguing snapshot of an era and a complex main character you can't help but root for

—— The Times

It's unbearably wrenching . . . Mohamed makes the outrage at the book's heart blazingly unignorable by inhabiting Mattan's point of view, a bold endeavour pulled off to powerful effect. Passages from the barbaric climax are still echoing in my head, even as I type

—— Daily Mail

Just as Half of a Yellow Sun drew out the little documented dramas of the Biafran war, Mohamed describes an East Africa under Mussolini's rule . . . such an accomplished first novel

—— Independent, on Black Mamba Boy

A first novel of elegance and beauty... a stunning debut

—— The Times, on Black Mamba Boy

A haunting and intimate portrait of the lives of women in war-torn Somalia

—— New York Journal of Books, on The Orchard of Lost Souls

Mixing startling lyricism and sheer brutality, this is a significant, affecting book

—— Guardian, on Black Mamba Boy

With the unadorned language of a wise, clear-eyed observer, Nadifa Mohamed has spun an unforgettable tale

—— Taiye Selasi, on The Orchard of Lost Souls

A moving and captivating tale of survival and hope in a war-torn country, and confirms Mohamed's stature as one of Britain's best young novelists

—— Stylist on The Orchard of Lost Souls

A heartfelt story, handled so carefully and empathetically

—— Aisling Bea

Because Of You is a tale told with warmth by a storyteller who never takes herself too seriously

—— Sunday Express

Heartbreaking but redemptive, and lightened by French's trademark humour, this is a compelling read that will keep you poised between laughter and tears

—— Daily Mail

A tantalising story of motherhood told with Dawn French's signature warmth

—— Sainsbury's Magazine

As ever, even in the darkest of times, Dawn has found humour to inject into her novel

—— Best

A brilliant book

—— Good Housekeeping

The life-affirming and unmissable new novel

—— Eastern Daily Press

A tale told with warmth

—— Daily Record

While Dawn French's latest novel contains a dash of humour, it's also heart-wrenching

—— The Hunsbury Handbook

A fabulous emotional tearjerker of a novel

—— Silversurfers

Praise for Dawn French

—— -

Hilarious and brilliant

—— Woman & Home

I adored According to YES. It's so different to anything I've read in forever, so charming, wise, brilliantly written. I loved it all

—— Marian Keyes

Witty and wise, it'll have you burning the midnight oil. A cracker

—— Woman's Weekly

Very funny and packs an emotional clout. Brilliant!

—— Heat

An enlightening and feel-good read offering a fresh look at life and how to embrace it. Funny and enjoyable to the end

—— We Love This Book

There is lots of fun to be had reading this book. It's impossible not to warm to Rosie, a funny and open-hearted woman who acts as a salve and comfort blanket for this unhappy, inhibited family. There's something quite joyous about the way she unashamedly romps her way through the novel, changing the lives of those around her for the better

—— Express

Another hilarious novel!

—— Bella

French can spin a yarn . . . which sets According to YES apart. Think the vicar of Dibley, without the dog collar. YES YES YES indeed

—— Independent

Wise and poignant

—— Beyond the Joke

Heart-warming

—— Choice Magazine
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