Coolim Books

05/10/2025

For the month of October, Coolim Books is holding a sale on a range of books. For details see https://tinyurl.com/CoolimBookSale.

26/09/2025

Rachel Finnegan’s books based on the memoirs of Judith Fleming Chavasse, give us a exceptional insight into Anglo-Irish society of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Copies of Rachel’s most recent book, ‘Memories of Gentry Houses in Skibbereen and Douglas, County Cork’, is now available from Coolim Books at

New paperback - 2025 - 209 pages. This book, by Rachel Finnegan, documents life in two gentry houses in County Cork from the 1860s to the early 1900s. It is told through the memoirs, written later in life, of three of the four Fleming sisters of New Court House near Skibbereen in West Cork. Item Wei...

16/09/2025

Over the summer months I worked to increase the volume and range of second-hand books available from Coolim Books, with an emphasis on books of West Cork and wider Cork interest. See https://coolim-books.sumupstore.com/products.

29/08/2025

Suspension of USA orders: From today, 29 August 2025, the USA is ending the tariff exempt status for parcels. This change is causing much confusion. My sources in the USA state that books are on a tariff free list and will continue to be exempt, however sources in Ireland, that I have spoken to, do not appear to be aware of this and insist that tariffs will be collected on all sales of goods. Until there is some clarity we are suspending sales to the USA. Sorry for the inconvenience caused, as soon as the rules are clear we will resume that service. 😔

24/08/2025

Among the recent arrivals at Coolim Books’ online store are books examining the history of Dunmanway, Drimoleague and Drinagh, see https://tinyurl.com/CoolimRecent

25/07/2025

Bantry Historical Society recently published Vol. 5 of their Journal. It is now available from Coolim Books at https://tinyurl.com/BHJVol5 See all volumes in the series at https://tinyurl.com/BantryJournals

19/07/2025

The first circumnavigation the globe by a boat flying the Irish tricolour was completed by Conor O'Brien in 1925 on his yacht Saoirse. Books by and about O'Brien are available from Coolim Books, see https://tinyurl.com/OBrienConor

17/07/2025

Congratulations to Skibbereen Historical Society on the launch of Vol. 21 of their Journal. This in now on sale at via Coolim Books at https://tinyurl.com/SHJ-2025, with all proceeds going back to the society. To see the full list of local journals for sale from Coolim Books visit https://tinyurl.com/Local-Journals

17/05/2025

The biography of Sr Kate McCarthy, 'From Rebel County to Ravensbrück Camp' by Catherine Fleming, is available from Coolim Books at tinyurl.com/SrKateMcCarthy

In WW2, Cork’s sister Kate McCarthy, worked in war hospitals across Europe, helping to smuggle Allied soldiers to safety. Her role in the French resistance during WW2 would prove vitally important to the allied war effort.

She would be caught by the Gestapo in 1941, and was tortured and sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp. In her daily task there, of having to make belts for paratroopers, she intentionally skipped every 5th stitch meaning when the parachute cord was pulled, the soldier would free fall to his death.
In this role, it’s estimated she killed up to 40 N***s per day.

Miraculously, Sister Kate survived the camp and was on the last bus out of Ravensbruck after the camp was liberated. Kate was extremely malnourished and weighed little more than four stone. Sister Kate returned to Cork to recover and eventually became mother superior of Honan Home in Co Cork for elderly people and spent the rest of her life there.

She was awarded the Médaille de la Résistance by Charles de Gaulle and in 2014 there was a plaque unveiled in Paris in the Irish College and Sister Kate's name was added.

Sister Kate, you lived a life truly worth remembering and we salute you.
Find out more about her story on the We, The Irish - Podcast
🇮🇪💚☘️🇮🇪

18/04/2025

All the best to TheBookshop.ie with their new premises. Always a brilliant service and they are very supportive of small independent publishers like us.

18/04/2025

Want to explore the medieval friaries and other monuments of Cork? When our reprint of the beautifully illustrated 'Ancient and National Monuments in the County of Cork' by Robert Cochrane is now on sale for just €5 plus p+p. See https://tinyurl.com/CochranesCork

10/04/2025

Just off the presses, a reprint of the book ‘The Cradle of Fenianism’. We were down to our last couple of the originals, so the new copies are very welcome. Local shops will be restocked shortly and you can always purchase a copy online at https://coolim-books.sumupstore.com/