What [Macmanus has] managed to do with London, and what London means to different generations of Irish people, is terrific, and deeply moving’ RODDY DOYLE Orla has moved to London from Ireland in pursuit of a career in the music industry- Orla sings, produces and plays guitar, so music is a huge part of her existence. I'm so sad it's over. I could have read another sixty chapters . . . A fantastic read' JOANNE MCNALLY A dizzying tale of young adulthood and the glimmering freedom and not-so-good decisions that come with it.’ CHLOE ASHBY It’s 2000, and she makes the more with her best friend Neema who she met at uni in Cheltenham. Neema’s brother Kesh is in a band - Shiva, along with Richie and Frank, and they have a spare room that Neema and Orla can move into.

While Orla’s own dreams seem to be going nowhere, Shiva are on the brink of something big. But as the hype around the band intensifies, so does the hedonism, and relationships in the house are growing strained. It's the turn of the millennium and, landing in London with nothing but her CD collection and demo tape, Orla Quinn moves into a squalid Kilburn house with her best mate and a band called Shiva.Macy and her co-author provide a boost of encouragement to everyone worried about seemingly hopeless environmental and social crises. Practical as well as inspirational, the book includes numerous exercises to strengthen those qualities that will best serve us as we work toward a more life-sustaining world. Macy has been giving workshops on these ideas for many years, testing and refining her methods, and the book reflects the depth of that process. A powerful and occasionally polemical appeal to reason in politics; if you're despairing in search of an antidote to the poison of "alternative facts", here's your book. Like any good political text, there's something here to offend everyone. You'll want to cheer, high-five and occasionally shout your disagreement, but what you won't want to do is put it down.'

As someone who grew up surrounded by music and, with a brother who was steeped in the local band scene, I loved the attention to detail with all its rawness and grit. Annie Macmanus breathes life into all her characters placing the reader right in the middle of the, at times, almost anarchic life of Orla Quinn. This is a book full of passion and life, a book that beats to its own drum, an exhilarating reading experience. Annie Macmanus knows the music industry well, adding a real authentic and trusted layer to this tale. s highly trusting nature and seeing the best in people, being a bit oblivious and how the relationship with her room mate develops were spot on as a portrait of Irish people. Gerry blinks, looking at his pint, and says, - we don’t all get the luxury of belonging where we’re born. So vivid . . . What [Macmanus has] managed to do with London, and what London means to different generations of Irish people, is terrific, and deeply moving’ RODDY DOYLE I just finished listening to this. Firstly, I loved the fact that Annie Mac read this. She has such a nice voice and clearly had a vision for how she wanted the story to get across.

I read this book intensely over 3 days on a weekend away, so I felt like I was fully submerged in Orla’s world which I think was a great way to experience The Mess We’re In.

Do you ever read something and instantly think this needs to be adapted into a series? Because that’s the case with The Mess We’re In! Annie Macmanus’s second novel hints at what to expect from the title alone - “The Mess We’re In”. Dubliner Orla has moved to England, hoping her life will finally begin, that she will get her break into music and become the person she assumes she will be. But this is not a Cinderella story, and Orla’s life is a mess when we meet her first (moving with her best friend Neema from Cheltenham to London), and things don’t really change as the narrative progresses.This book is exactly what the title suggests: it offers a plan for how to face the reality of climate collapse, do what one can, and stave off despair. The advice is fairly simple: it's really about making some shifts in the way we see our situations. We remember that we are part of the earth, not separate from it, and we see the grief, anxiety, anger, despair we feel on behalf of the earth and its residents as the Earth crying out in us. We remind ourselves of the resources we have, our strengths, the people we know are supporting us. We don't worry about the end result, we do what we can each day. We see uncertainty as hopeful instead of destabilizing.