"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)
"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)
