Hopscotch
A Memoir
Published on 16. June 2016
Book
Paperback/Softback
240 pages
978-1-78416-113-2 (ISBN)
Description
'Quite brilliant; beautifully, cleverly observed; funny, heart-breaking.' - Roddy Doyle
Hilary is four, not yet five, and she has a mother and a father and an older brother and sisters. She even has a name at home - Billy - that is different from her written-down name. But now that she is in Low Babies in the local convent school, it seems Hilary has something else called responsibilities.
The world is a changing place. Hilary's parents, themselves products of a country bathed in sanctifying grace, and presided over by leather-strapped Christian Brothers, wimpled nuns, and a strictly ingrained moral code, start to question their own life choices. As she begins to mature, Hilary's perspective shifts from a confusing mosaic of half-understood conversations, bizarre rules and surreal religious symbolism, to a growing awareness of the eccentricities of the adult world around her, where money is tight, ideas are unorthodox and where living life to the full is the goal.
As her parents' unconventional lifestyle rubs against the grain of a pervasive Catholic society, the cracks begin to appear: siblings are expelled from school; final demands litter the hallway; and Hilary discovers the truth about the always-present but never-to-be-mentioned golden-haired lady.
Hopscotch is a funny, poignant and beautifully written memoir, a spellbinding meditation on innocence, love and memory itself.
Hilary is four, not yet five, and she has a mother and a father and an older brother and sisters. She even has a name at home - Billy - that is different from her written-down name. But now that she is in Low Babies in the local convent school, it seems Hilary has something else called responsibilities.
The world is a changing place. Hilary's parents, themselves products of a country bathed in sanctifying grace, and presided over by leather-strapped Christian Brothers, wimpled nuns, and a strictly ingrained moral code, start to question their own life choices. As she begins to mature, Hilary's perspective shifts from a confusing mosaic of half-understood conversations, bizarre rules and surreal religious symbolism, to a growing awareness of the eccentricities of the adult world around her, where money is tight, ideas are unorthodox and where living life to the full is the goal.
As her parents' unconventional lifestyle rubs against the grain of a pervasive Catholic society, the cracks begin to appear: siblings are expelled from school; final demands litter the hallway; and Hilary discovers the truth about the always-present but never-to-be-mentioned golden-haired lady.
Hopscotch is a funny, poignant and beautifully written memoir, a spellbinding meditation on innocence, love and memory itself.
Reviews / Votes
Quite brilliant; beautifully, cleverly observed; funny, heart-breaking. -- Roddy Doyle Brilliantly written and absolutely hilarious. Hilary is an extraordinary writer and Hopscotch is destined to become a classic of the form. -- Donal Ryan The best book I read last year. A heartbreaking story masterfully written. -- Paul Howard Hilary Fannin carries the reader deep into the mind of a little girl baffled by the world around in her candid, intoxicating memoir . . . a lucid, crystalline and intoxicating style. Hopscotch tells a private story with candour and exactitude, love and understanding, artfulness and wit. -- Carlo Gebler * Irish Times * Hopscotch captures the joys, fears and bewilderments of a 1960s Dublin childhood through the wonderful prism of an innocent young girl's puzzled attempts to navigate the muddy waters of her parents' world. It is written with a deft sleight of hand that makes it wonderfully funny and moving. -- Dermot Bolger * Sunday Independent * Completely enthralling; poignant, vivid, laugh-out-loud moments. -- Catherine Dunne The most moving memoir I've read since Nuala O Faolain's Are You Somebody? A mesmeric, evocative tour de force. -- Joe Duffy Truly extraordinary and lyrical prose . . . a hymn of boundless love and gratitude and redemption . . . this rather wonderful book. -- Brenda Power * Sunday Times * Hopscotch is searingly honest, hilariously funny and utterly memorable. -- Mary Shine Thompson * Irish Independent * Consistently funny, frequently touching and full of passages studded with sharp observation, impressive psychological insight and surreal invention . . . a small masterpiece. -- Enda O'Doherty * Dublin Review of Books *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Transworld Publishers Ltd
Target group
Primary & secondary/elementary & high school
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Dimensions
Height: 198 mm
Width: 127 mm
Thickness: 15 mm
Weight
168 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78416-113-2 (9781784161132)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
E-Book
10/2015
1st Edition
Transworld Digital
€12.99
Available for download
Person
HILARY FANNIN is an award-winning playwright and newspaper columnist. Born in Dublin, where she still lives, she was writer in association at the Abbey Theatre in its centenary year. Her plays, including Mackerel Sky, Doldrum Bay, Famished Castle and an adaptation of Racine's Phaedra, have been performed in Ireland, London, Europe and North America. She writes a weekly column for the Irish Times and was awarded Irish Columnist of the Year in 2019. Her memoir, Hopscotch, was published to critical acclaim in 2015. The Weight of Love is her first novel.