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Irish Mis-lit and Abuse Memoir

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  • 09-03-2011 6:33pm
    #1
    diddlybit
    Registered Users Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭


    Just looking for a hand building a comprehensive list of all Irish trauma and abuse memoirs.

    So far I've Paddy Doyle's, Martha Long's Kathy O'Beirne, Patrick Touher's, John Devane's and a couple of others that I haven't got at hand and cannot recall their titles.

    Any suggestions to add to this list would be greatly appreciated :)


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    #2
    mike65
    Closed Accounts Posts: 88,978 ✭✭✭✭mike65


    Angelas Ashes? Must be top of the list.


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    #3
    diddlybit
    Registered Users Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭diddlybit


    mike65 wrote: »
    Angelas Ashes? Must be top of the list.

    Yup. It is! :o You know when something is so obvious that it completely slips your mind...


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    #4
    krankykitty
    Registered Users Posts: 1,518 ✭✭✭krankykitty


    Would Christina Noble "Bridge Across my Sorrows" count? Although it's not purely about abuse/misery there sure was a lot in it.


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    #5
    diddlybit
    Registered Users Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭diddlybit


    krankykitty wrote: »
    Would Christina Noble "Bridge Across my Sorrows" count? Although it's not purely about abuse/misery there sure was a lot in it.

    Cheers for the recommendation, I shall be sure to check it out.:)


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    #6
    tawnyowl
    Registered Users Posts: 511 ✭✭✭tawnyowl


    Founded in Fear by Peter Tyrell probably qualifies - he spend a large part of his childhood in Letterfrack industrial school. I think it covers some of his adult life also.


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    #7
    teekayd25
    Closed Accounts Posts: 252 ✭✭teekayd25


    Another one is "Altar Boy - A Story of Life After Abuse" by Andrew Madden.


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    #8
    diddlybit
    Registered Users Posts: 1,026 ✭✭✭diddlybit


    Cheers all. Will be sure to source all them. Lots of light-haerted reading in front of me.


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    #9
    Giselle
    Closed Accounts Posts: 2,540 ✭✭✭Giselle


    diddlybit wrote: »
    Cheers all. Will be sure to source all them. Lots of light-haerted reading in front of me.

    May I ask why you are compiling the list diddlybit?

    I stay away from misery lit, but a friend recommended the horrifically titled 'Ma, he sold me for a few cigarettes'. Google reveals the author as Martha Long.

    She told me it was a great read, she'd been crying for days with it.:(

    I'm not sure reading all this material will be good for your mental health!


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    #10
    misswhat
    Registered Users Posts: 37 ✭misswhat


    Celiene Roberts-No One Wants You. GREAT memoir. Really terrific book. She's from Limerick herself!


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    #11
    ThirdMan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,700 ✭✭✭ThirdMan


    Brendan Behan's Borstal Boy.


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    #12
    meganj
    Registered Users Posts: 424 ✭✭meganj


    Giselle wrote: »
    I stay away from misery lit, but a friend recommended the horrifically titled 'Ma, he sold me for a few cigarettes'. Google reveals the author as Martha Long.

    That book actually spawned a trilogy as far as I know. I read the first one, harrowing stuff.

    Kathy's Story: A Childhood Hell Inside the Magdalen Laundries is set (obviously) in a Magdalen Laundry, haven't read it myself but a friend is... lots of sobbing.


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