O'Connell Street

O'Connell Street is at the heart of Dublin. It has been through name changes and revolutions, destruction and rebuilding and remained at the heart of the story of Ireland for centuries. Nicola Pierce explores the people, the history, the buildings and the stories behind the main street in our capital city. Packed with stories of the people connected to the streets, from the subjects of the statues, to the sculptors that created them, from those who owned and developed the street since the days of St Mary's Abbey in 1147, to those who worked and lived there through the centuries and all the drama and scandals that went on both on the street and behind closed doors. O'Connell Street will also feature more personal, anecdotal stories of the cinemas, meeting under Clery's clock, buying engagement rings at The Happy Ring House, witnessing motorcades such as the Apollo XIII coming down the street, the heyday of film stars staying at the Gresham, and scandals and murders on the street.

Nicola Pierce published her first book for children, Spirit of the Titanic, to rave reviews and five printings within its first twelve months. City of Fate, her second book, transported the reader deep into the Russian city of Stalingrad during World War II. The novel was shortlisted for the Warwickshire School Library Service Award, 2014. Nicola went on to bring seventeenth-century Ireland vividly to life in Behind the Walls (2015), a rich emotional novel set in the besieged city of Derry in 1689, followed by Kings of the Boyne (2016), a moving and gritty account capturing the Battle of the Boyne (1690), which was shortlisted for the Literacy Association of Ireland (LAI) awards. In 2018 Nicola delved in to the true stories of the passengers, crew and the legacy of the fated ship Titanic, in her illustrated book of the same name. To read more about Nicola, go to her Facebook page, www.facebook.com/NicolaPierce-Author and on Twitter @NicolaPierce3.