Novels
- Captains and the Kings (1972)
- The Gates (1973)
- How Many Miles to Babylon? (1974)
- Shadows on our Skin (1977)
- The Old Jest (1979)
- The Christmas Tree (1981)
- The Railway Station Man (1984)
- Fool’s Sanctuary (1987)
- The Invisible Worm (1991)
- The Illusionist (1995)
- The Desert Lullaby (1996)
- Two Moons (1998)
- The Gingerbread Woman (2000)
- This Is Not a Novel (2002)
- Grace and Truth (2005)
- Foolish Mortals (2007)
- Truth or Fiction (2009)
- Shadowstory (2011)
- A Sixpenny Song (2013)
Omnibus
- Captains and the Kings / Railway Station Man / Fool’s Sanctuary (1999)
- Naming the Stars (2015)
- Naming the Stars / Two Moons (2016)
Collections
- Selected Plays (2003)
- From the Republic of Conscience (2009)
Chapbooks
- The Great Shark Escape (2001)
Plays
- The Nightingale and Not the Lark (1980)
Novels Book Covers
Omnibus Book Covers
Collections Book Covers
Chapbooks Book Covers
Plays Book Covers
Jennifer Johnston Books Overview
The Gates
Once, the villagers would tip their hats respectfully when the McMahons drove out through the ornate iron gates at the end of the drive. Now, when the estate is in a state of peaceful decay, Minnie returns home, disrupting the tranquillity.
How Many Miles to Babylon?
As a child Alec, heir to the big house and only son of a bitter marriage, formed a close friendship with Jerry, a village boy who shared his passion for horses. In 1914 both enlisted in the British Army Alec goaded by his beautiful, cold mother to fight for King and Country, Jerry to learn his trade for the Irish Nationalist cause. But amid the mud of Flanders, their relationship is tested by an ordeal beyond the horror of the battlefield…
Shadows on our Skin
Derry in the 1970s: teenager Joe Logan is growing up in the teeth of the Troubles, having to cope with embittered parents, a brother who’s been away and come back with money and a gun in his pocket, harsh school teachers, and the constant awareness of the military presence in the background. Central to the story is the friendship that tentatively grows up between Joe and Kathleen, a young school teacher who brings a fresh perspective to his familiar world.
The Christmas Tree
Constance Keating has lived a life of exile alienated from her family and from Ireland, and now she has returned home to die. While that process takes place, she replays the fragments of her past. And, as The Christmas Tree awaits its day, so she also waits, hoping that the outcome will be on her terms.
The Railway Station Man
Helen has retreated to the remote Irish coast to be alone and to paint. In the railway station house nearby, English war hero Roger Hawthorne has settled. They find a deepening love for each other, but Helen, enjoying her first taste of happiness for years, is to learn how fleeting it can be.
Fool’s Sanctuary
World War I is over, but the war in Ireland is just beginning. It seems very remote to Miranda Martin, who thinks of nothing but the future during the Indian summer. Then Andrew, her officer brother, comes home, bringing eccentric, likeable Harry. As the summer fades, the scene is set for tragedy.
The Invisible Worm
It starts with a funeral. The great and the good have assembled: the President has sent a representative, and dignitaries are there in force. And Laura remembers those two terrible events. But was the tragedy out at sea an accident? Was the experience in the summerhouse cause rather than effect?
Two Moons
In a house overlooking Dublin Bay, Mimi and her daughter Grace are disturbed by the unexpected arrival of Grace’s daughter Polly, and her new boyfriend. The events of the next few days will lead both of them to reas*sess the shape of their lives.
The Gingerbread Woman
On a rainy afternoon on Killiney Hill a young man walking, without his overcoat, happens upon a woman gazing out over Dublin bay, standing perilously close to the edge. From their testy encounter develops a remarkable friendship which will enable each to face afresh their very different, damaged pasts, and to look, however tentatively, towards the future.
Grace and Truth
Sally, an actress, has just returned from a long European tour to her house in Goatstown, and looks forward eagerly to seeing her husband, Charlie, again. When Charlie announces that he’s leaving her, Sally, devastated and furious, makes him pack his bags at once. But maybe, she wonders later, she really is too hard to live with? Weighed down by the unspoken secrets of two generations, and hoping for some glimmer of comfort, Sally turns to her grandfather, the frosty old Bishop she has never really known.
Foolish Mortals
All families are complicated, but some are more complicated than others. And Christmas can only make matters worse. After Ciara’s estranged father is nearly killed by his second wife in a car accident or was it an accident? Ciara begins, gingerly, to reenter his life. As her troubled family gather for the holidays, is it too much to hope that they begin to find peace at last? Of course it is. With cross dressing twins, new loves and an unpredictably monstrous matriarch, Christmas was never going to be easy. But it proves both more disastrous and happier than any of them could have guessed.
Captains and the Kings / Railway Station Man / Fool’s Sanctuary
Three novels by the Whitbread Award winning Irish author, published for the first time in an omnibus edition. With an Introduction by Sebastian Barry.
The Great Shark Escape
What starts as a class trip to the aquarium ends in the depths of the ocean, where the class has to escape from the jaws of a great white shark. Ms. Frizzle teaches the class all about different shark species, including the goblin shark, the angel shark, and the enormous whale shark. The magic School Bus has never been so deep!
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