Hope springs from Mother’s Day book

Do you remember the days when your mother used to read you fairytales? Well now you can repay her this Mother’s Day with the gift of a book.

The Big Book of Hope contains an eclectic blend of more than 40 fiction and non-fiction short stories.
Complied by two mums, publisher of 10books, Inkwell’s Vanessa O’Loughlin with writer, journalist, and broadcaster, Hazel Katherine Larkin, The Big Book of Hope is a unique collection of contributions from Ireland’s top writers, media personalities, businessmen and women and political figures.
The book contains many stories that are testament to the love, strength and sacrifice of mothers everywhere. Among them are Bill Cullen’s tale of the time his mother “fought off the eviction bowsies” and Ivy Bannister’s Love, which focuses on the fierce love a mother has for her autistic child. Every Second Counts by Vanessa O’Loughlin is about a mum’s fear for her child, while Brian Keenan’s story is from I’ll tell me Ma, his memoir of childhood in Belfast.
Anita Notaro’s With a Little Help from My Mammy and Teena Gates’ Tapping into Hope are tributes that will bring a tear to the eye, while Hazel Katherine Larkin’s fictional piece and Mariam Laskar’s interview with Andrea Catherwood tell the tales of two very different mothers in modern-day India.
These stories of hope bring Ireland’s best-loved writer, Maeve Binchy, alongside Met Éireann’s Evelyn Cusack and businessman Denis O’Brien, to put the royal seal on this landmark collection.
Proceeds from the sale of The Big Book of Hope go directly to The Hope Foundation, which was set up in 1999 to raise funds for one girls’ home and now works with 16 Indian NGO partners to rescue thousands of children from the streets and slums of Kolkata (Calcutta).
Published by Poolbeg The Big Book of Hope is available in bookshops and online from Poolbeg and directly from The Hope Foundation.
For further information on The Hope Foundation, visit www.hopefoundation.ie.