Items related to Don't Wake Me at Doyles: A Memoir

Don't Wake Me at Doyles: A Memoir - Hardcover

 
9780312337919: Don't Wake Me at Doyles: A Memoir
View all copies of this ISBN edition:
 
 
"Murphy's skillful storytelling and optimistic spirit give even the grimmest moments of her difficult life story levity in this hopeful, spunky sister to Angela's Ashes."- Publishers Weekly

Maura Murphy's memoir of life in Ireland and beyond resonates with the people, places, and struggles of an almost forgotten generation. Born "chronically ugly and cross as a briar" into a poor, rural homestead in 1920s Ireland, Maura faced adversity from birth. She grew up in the bogs of the Irish countryside and left school at fourteen for Dublin, working in service there until her marriage to a hardworking but hard-drinking womanizer. Poverty stricken and hoping to find a better life for her five young children, she left Ireland with her family for 1950s Birmingham, England.

But life doesn't always change when places do, and Maura's fear that she'd be "waked" at Doyles bar upon her death is funny but dead serious. Her voice is feisty and fearless, and she needed to be all those things to survive an extraordinary series of privations and abuses. And now, seventy-five and having survived her childhood, recovered from cancer, and left her marriage of fifty years, Maura has finally recorded the story of her life. Don't Wake Me at Doyles is the compelling account of a life set against by bad odds and worse luck: a memoir of survival and success in the face of the limits of class, education, nationality, religion, gender, and even health.

A fearlessly honest writer, Maura invites us into her world, through her destructive marriage, and the birth of her nine children, and towards a life-or-death choice that would change her forever. Told with biting wit, Don't Wake Me at Doyles is a personal story of one woman's endurance, and the remarkable memoir of an ordinary woman's extraordinary life.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From the Inside Flap:

A Top-Ten Sunday Times Bestseller (UK)

"Best Memoir" written by and about the Irish, 2005---The Buffalo News

Maura Murphy's memoir of life in Ireland and beyond resonates with the people, places, and struggles of an almost forgotten generation. Born "chronically ugly and cross as a briar" into a poor, rural homestead in 1920s Ireland, Maura faced adversity from birth. She grew up in the bogs of the Irish countryside and left school at fourteen for Dublin, working in service there until her marriage to a hard-working but hard-drinking womanizer. Poverty stricken and hoping to find a better life for her five young children, she left Ireland with her family for 1950s Birmingham, England.

But life doesn't always change when places do, and Maura's fear that she'd be "waked" at Doyles bar upon her death is funny but dead serious. Her voice is feisty and fearless, and she needed to be all those things to survive an extraordinary series of privations and abuses. And now, seventy-six and having survived her childhood, recovered from cancer, and left her marriage of fifty years, Maura has finally recorded the story of her life.

A fearlessly honest writer, Maura invites us into her world, through her destructive marriage, and the birth of her nine children, and toward a life-or-death choice that would change her forever. Told with biting wit, Don't Wake Me at Doyles is a personal story of one woman's endurance, and the remarkable memoir of an ordinary woman's extraordinary life.

"Murphy's skillful storytelling and optimistic spirit give even the grimmest moments of her difficult life story levity in this hopeful, spunky sister to Angela's Ashes."--Publishers Weekly

"One of the most gripping memoirs I have ever read. The dialogue is authentic and the pace is fast and engaging. Irish family members have been done to death, but I'll make an exception for this one."--Irish Voice

About the Author:
Maura Murphy was born in Clongmore, Country Offaly, in 1928. She left Ballybryan National School when she was fourteen with "no qualifications and even fewer prospects." She worked as a domestic servant in various houses in Dublin until she met and married John Murphy, a soldier stationed at Portobello Barracks. The couple moved to Birmingham, England, in 1959 where they reared nine children. They have eleven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Maura now lives in Birmingham, England, in the West Midlands.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.

  • PublisherThomas Dunne Books
  • Publication date2005
  • ISBN 10 0312337914
  • ISBN 13 9780312337919
  • BindingHardcover
  • Edition number1
  • Number of pages400
  • Rating

Other Popular Editions of the Same Title

9780312337926: Don't Wake Me at Doyles: A Memoir

Featured Edition

ISBN 10:  0312337922 ISBN 13:  9780312337926
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 2006
Softcover

  • 9780755313358: Don't wake me at Doyles: a memoir

    London..., 2004
    Hardcover

Top Search Results from the AbeBooks Marketplace

Stock Image

Murphy, Maura
Published by Thomas Dunne Books (2005)
ISBN 10: 0312337914 ISBN 13: 9780312337919
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
The Book Spot
(Sioux Falls, SD, U.S.A.)

Book Description Hardcover. Condition: New. Seller Inventory # Abebooks27003

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 59.00
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: FREE
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds
Stock Image

Murphy, Maura
Published by Thomas Dunne Books (2005)
ISBN 10: 0312337914 ISBN 13: 9780312337919
New Hardcover Quantity: 1
Seller:
BennettBooksLtd
(North Las Vegas, NV, U.S.A.)

Book Description Condition: New. New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title! 1.55. Seller Inventory # Q-0312337914

More information about this seller | Contact seller

Buy New
US$ 75.67
Convert currency

Add to Basket

Shipping: US$ 5.28
Within U.S.A.
Destination, rates & speeds