Ma, It's a Cold Aul Night an I'm Lookin for a Bed: A Memoir of Dublin in the 1960s (Memoirs of Dublin)
Hardcover – April 14, 2015
Description
"Dublin –xa0in all its splendor and grit, poetry and profanity –xa0is once again brought to life by Martha Long’s irresistible voice. Her many trials and tribulations are no match for the fierce determination and wicked sense of humor she so deftly deploys. Brew up a strong pot of tea and get ready for a wild, often dark but always inspiring ride through 1960s Ireland." —Tom Deignan, Irish Voice Martha Long has a talent of interlacing her tragic life story with humor ... a fluently written and absorbing memoir, which will horrify and inspire." — Ulster Tatler "Long's story is a gritty, grueling, and heartbreaking testament to one girl's unbreakable spirit." — Publishers Weekly — Irish Post — Irish World MARTHA LONG was born in the 1950s in Dublin, where she lives to this day. She is the author of the eight-part “Ma” series of memoirs, which have been best-sellers in the UK and Ireland. In 2014 Long published her first novel, Run, Lily, Run . A self-proclaimed “middle-aged matron,” she has successfully reared three children.
Features & Highlights
- The next installment of the
- Ma
- books—all bestsellers in Ireland and the UK—brings readers on the journey of Martha's first months of freedom in Dublin after leaving the convent where she spent her early adolescence.
- In the latest chapter of Martha Long's autobiographical series, Martha is for the first time on her own: discharged from the convent, she's finally 16, the age she'd long dreamed of as the doorway to her freedom from the whims of cruel adults. "Life is a bowl of cherries!" she reasons as she sets out to blend in with the middle classes and find love, acceptance, and respect therein. But this is also Dublin in the 1960s, where class aspirations ain't so easy for the likes of Martha. As one job and bedsit is found (and lost), another soon comes along with its own foibles and dangers . . . but with her signature spirit and true grit, Martha makes the best of every situation and manages to offer compassion even to the most downtrodden of characters who cross her path. Chance meetings with old friends from the convent and a fortuitous (yet brief) reunion with two of her brothers remind Martha of all she has experienced (and survived) and serves as the impetus for her to keep going . . . even when homelessness is all but certain. As with her previous books,
- Ma, It's a Cold Aul Night an I'm Lookin for a Bed
- has us cheering for Martha. This time she doesn't have any nuns or abusive stepfathers preventing her from making progress . . . but life does still get in the way, and that bowl of cherries sometimes proves to be a bit more sour than Martha would hope.
