Snakes' Elbows

When the timid millionaire pianist Barney Barrington moves to Woodford, extraordinary things start to happen. For local millionaire Jasper Jellit doesn't like all the attention Barney is getting and will do anything to upstage him, including hosting an extravagant chocolate party for Woodford residents. But when Barney and Jasper want to buy the same painting, Jasper finds less scrupulous ways of getting what he wants. As Barney is too kind to ever have a suspicious thought, it falls to his hyper-intelligent cat Dandelion to save the day - with the help of Jasper's two misunderstood dogs Cannibal and Bruiser. Winner of the Eilis Dillon Award for a First Children's Book

Deirdre Madden is from Toomebridge, Co. Antrim. Her novels include One by One in the Darkness, Authenticity, Molly Fox's Birthday and, most recently, Time Present and Time Past. She has twice been shortlisted for the Orange Prize. She teaches at Trinity College, Dublin, and is a member of the Irish Arts Academy, Aosdána.