This funky, rude, unpretentious first novel traces the short, funny, and furious career of a group of working-class Irish kids who form a band, The Commitments. Their mission: to bring soul to Dublin!

Meet the Rabbitte family, motley bunch of loveable ne'er-do-wells whose everyday purgatory is rich with hangovers, dogshit and dirty dishes. When the older sister announces her pregnancy, the family is forced to rally together and discover the strangeness of intimacy. But the question remains: which friend of the family is the father of Sharon's child?

The further misadventures of the Rabbitte family in working-class Dublin—from the author of The Commitments and The Snapper. This story follows Jimmy Rabbitte, Sr., and his best friend through Dublin, selling cheap grub to the drunk and hungry—keeping one step ahead of the health officials.

Alternate Cover Edition ISBN 0749397365 (ISBN13: 9780749397364) This volume brings together under one cover Roddy Doyle's three acclaimed novels about the Rabbite family from Dublin. "The Commitments" traces the rapid rise and even more rapid fall of Jimmy Rabbite Jr's unusual soul band. In "The Snapper", Sharon Rabbite's pregnancy sparks off intense speculation among her friends and family, but she is determined to reveal the identity of the father in her own time. "The Van", set during Ireland's 1990 World Cup attempt, follows the fortunes of Jimmy Sr and his friend Bimbo as they launch their travelling fish'n'chip shop on an unsuspecting Barrytown, learning much about themselves in the process.