The Granny
Published on 1. August 2000
Book
Paperback/Softback
192 pages
978-0-452-28184-4 (ISBN)
Description
The New York Times Book Review praised Brendan O'Carroll's first novel, The Mammy, as "Cheerful...as unpretentious and satisfying as a home-cooked meal...with a delicious dessert of an ending." With the forthcoming second book in the trilogy, The Chisellers, and a movie about The Mammy (entitled Agnes Browne) on the horizon, the world is discovering O'Carroll's uniquely Irish blend of warmth and grittiness, comedy and pathos, as he elevates the lives of ordinary working-class Dublin people-and one extraordinary family-into tales that are small in size but epic in emotion. With the final installment, The Granny, our comedic and lovable heroine, Agnes Browne, has a French lover, six children in their twenties-including one in prison-and a wee grandchild of her own. But the world is spinning fast for Agnes-especially considering that her lover wants her to become "a sexual animal" and that her family's far-flung fortune is beyond her control. The members of the Browne family split up to make it in the world on their own until a tragedy brings the brood back together again-and love keeps them that way forever.
Reviews / Votes
Praise for The Mammy"I think Brendan O'Carroll is Agnes Browne, and if he's not, he's done one hell of a job capturing the absolute essence of a widowed mother in working-class Dublin."-Anjelica Huston
"How to lose weight: Read The Mammy. You will laugh your arse off and your tears will do away with your water-retention problem. It is an uproariously funny account of growing up in inner-city Dublin-a laugh-out loud book with a Dickensian twist to it."-Malachy McCourt, author of A Monk Swimming
"Hilarious and irreverent. A must-read."-Gabriel Byrne
Praise for The Chisellers
"A brilliant book."-Sunday Independent (London)
"By turns funny, wise and heartbreaking, this Irish Tales of the City is O'Carroll's second book in his Mrs. Browne trilogy; the first, The Mammy, received high praise after publication in the U.S. last year. Featuring eccentric characters who are charming, irreverent and believable, the story continues in 1973 with Agnes Browne at center stage... This lively novel features a wedding, a funeral and an ending that will melt the hardest heart. Readers will eagerly await the third book in this series."-Publishers Weekly
Praise for The Granny
"O'Carroll is a popular stand-up comic, and he writes with an easy sense of humor... winning and likable."-Kirkus Reviews
"These Dubliners are irresistibly charming... Tales of working-class Irish life now fill bookshelves, but there's space aplenty for O'Carroll's sturdy contribution."-Publishers Weekly
Praise for The Young Wan
"An almost surefire winner... one of those books that demands to be read in one sitting."-The Irish Voice
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Publishing group
Penguin Putnam Inc
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Dimensions
Height: 203 mm
Width: 136 mm
Thickness: 11 mm
Weight
177 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-452-28184-4 (9780452281844)
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
Person
Brendan O'Carroll, the youngest of eleven children, was born in Stonybatter, a North Dublin neighborhood, in 1955. He is an acclaimed playwright and Ireland's most popular stand-up comedian. The creator of a hugely successful Irish radio show, Mrs. Browne's Boys (the genesis of his novels), O'Carroll is also an actor and has a role in the upcoming film version of Angela's Ashes. All the books in his Mrs. Browne trilogy were #1 bestsellers in his native Ireland. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.