"An extraordinary story about an ordinary life." --People
"Brilliant" -- The New Yorker Ten years on from The Woman Who Walked into Doors, Booker Prize-winning author, Roddy Doyle, returns to one of his greatest characters, Paula Spencer.
Paula Spencer is turning forty-eight, and hasn’t had a drink for four months and five days. Her youngest children, Jack and Leanne, are still living with her. They're grand kids, but she worries about Leanne.
Paula still works as a cleaner, but all the others doing the job seem to come from Eastern Europe. You can get a cappuccino in the café and the checkout girls are all Nigerian. Ireland is certainly changing, but then so too is Paula – dry, and determined to put her family back together again. Told with the unmistakable wit of Doyle's unique voice, this is a redemptive tale about a brave and tenacious woman.
"Brilliant." --The New Yorker
"An extraordinary story about an ordinary life." --People
"Beautifully nuanced and sweetly populist . . . You'll stick with Paula as Doyle gently celebrates her small but memorable victories." --USA Today
"A tale of ultimate personal struggle, and told superbly . . . Doyle shines a light on a supposedly ordinary life, tenderly illuminating its extraordinary contours." --The Wall Street Journal
"[Doyle] transforms what might be a bleak story of a working-class woman into a tale of triumph and great humor." --Entertainment Weekly
"A phenomenally rewarding read… Could not be bettered in its depiction of the minutiae of the life of a recovering alcoholic: relentless, trivial, terrified" -- Observer (London)
RODDY DOYLE was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of ten acclaimed novels, including The Commitments, The Van (a finalist for the Booker Prize), Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (winner of the Booker Prize), The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, A Star Called Henry, The Guts and most recently, Love. Doyle has also written several collections of stories, as well as Two Pints, Two More Pints and Two for the Road, and several works for children and young adults including the Rover novels. He lives in Dublin.
View titles by Roddy Doyle
"An extraordinary story about an ordinary life." --People
"Brilliant" -- The New Yorker Ten years on from The Woman Who Walked into Doors, Booker Prize-winning author, Roddy Doyle, returns to one of his greatest characters, Paula Spencer.
Paula Spencer is turning forty-eight, and hasn’t had a drink for four months and five days. Her youngest children, Jack and Leanne, are still living with her. They're grand kids, but she worries about Leanne.
Paula still works as a cleaner, but all the others doing the job seem to come from Eastern Europe. You can get a cappuccino in the café and the checkout girls are all Nigerian. Ireland is certainly changing, but then so too is Paula – dry, and determined to put her family back together again. Told with the unmistakable wit of Doyle's unique voice, this is a redemptive tale about a brave and tenacious woman.
Praise
"Brilliant." --The New Yorker
"An extraordinary story about an ordinary life." --People
"Beautifully nuanced and sweetly populist . . . You'll stick with Paula as Doyle gently celebrates her small but memorable victories." --USA Today
"A tale of ultimate personal struggle, and told superbly . . . Doyle shines a light on a supposedly ordinary life, tenderly illuminating its extraordinary contours." --The Wall Street Journal
"[Doyle] transforms what might be a bleak story of a working-class woman into a tale of triumph and great humor." --Entertainment Weekly
"A phenomenally rewarding read… Could not be bettered in its depiction of the minutiae of the life of a recovering alcoholic: relentless, trivial, terrified" -- Observer (London)
RODDY DOYLE was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of ten acclaimed novels, including The Commitments, The Van (a finalist for the Booker Prize), Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (winner of the Booker Prize), The Woman Who Walked Into Doors, A Star Called Henry, The Guts and most recently, Love. Doyle has also written several collections of stories, as well as Two Pints, Two More Pints and Two for the Road, and several works for children and young adults including the Rover novels. He lives in Dublin.
View titles by Roddy Doyle
