THE MAMMY

by Brendan O'Carroll ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 3, 1999

Comedian O'Carroll's debut novel, the first installment in an intended trilogy, goes over tuff familiar to Irish storytellers, offering an amusing if saccharine view of family life in working-class Dublin, where a young widow with seven children makes ends meet and realizes her most cherished dream in spite of everything. Agnes Browne is initially glimpsed in the Pension Office, applying for her widow's relief on the afternoon of the same day her husband was run over by a car. Although his funeral goes smoothly, the burial turns out to be a fiasco, as three processions become entangled and Agnes and the other mourners see the wrong casket interred. Then life resumes much as before, with Agnes and her dear friend Marion going off at dawn every day to run their fruit-and-vegetable stands in a street market. Tensions at home are lessened, however, without the threats from her drunken, abusive husband. The kids still have their share of woes: the eldest, Mark, is worried about his new pubic hair and new responsibilities as head of the household; the only girl, Cathy, runs afoul of Sister Magdalen when she leaves school without permission--to get fresh underwear after learning of a surprise checkup by the school doctor. Agnes experiences another, even greater loss when Marion discovers a lump in her breast and dies within a few months. Yet the plucky widow also manages to catch the eye of a Frenchman opening a pizza parlor in the neighborhood, and she goes on her first date since learning she was pregnant with Mark. Finally, thanks to a chance encounter and some mischief involving two of her boys, Agnes is able to achieve an impossible dream, just in time for Christmas. Would that the lives of the working poor were all so blessed. When not engaged in creating Capraesque moments, though, this is a gritty, colorful tale of Irish reality.

Pub Date: May 3, 1999

ISBN: 0452281032

Page Count: 176

Publisher: Plume

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1999

Categories: FICTION