Synopses & Reviews
In this new novel, set in contemporary Dublin, Roddy Doyle returns to Paula Spencer ("One of Doyle's finest creations"
Toronto Star), the beloved heroine of the bestselling
The Woman Who Walked into Doors, with spectacular results.
Paula Spencer begins on the eve of Paula's forty-eighth birthday. She hasn't had a drink for four months and five days. Having outlived an abusive husband and father, Paula and her four children are now struggling to live their adult lives, with two of the kids balancing their own addictions. Knowing how close she always is to the edge, Paula rebuilds her life slowly, taking pride in the things she accomplishes, helped sometimes by the lists she makes to plan for the future.
As she goes about her daily routine working as a cleaning woman, and cooking for her two children at home, she re-establishes connections with her two sisters, her mother and grandchildren, expanding her world. She discovers the latest music, the Internet and text-messaging, treats herself to Italian coffees, and gradually ventures beyond her house, where she's always felt most comfortable. As Paula thinks of herself, She's a new-old woman, learning how to live.
Doyle has movingly depicted a woman, both strong and fragile, who is fighting back and finally equipped to be a mother to her children but now that they're mostly grown up, is it too late? Doyle's fans and new readers alike will root for Paula to stay clean and find a little healing for herself and her children, amidst the threat that it may all go wrong.
Review
"Though the narrative might meander a tad much, this deeply empathetic novel comes to a suitably indeterminate ending." Houston Chronicle
Review
"[Doyle's] dialogue, thick with Dublinese, expertly evokes the working-class Irish milieu. Although the third-person narration will make some readers miss Paula's voice, this is Paula's story and it's grand." Booklist
Review
"The four grown Spencer offspring, Paula's two sisters, and a promising romantic interest make up an entertaining supporting cast. Highly recommended." Library Journal
Review
"Paula Spencer does for alcoholism what The Woman Who Walked Into Doors did for domestic violence: makes it real for those lucky to have no firsthand experience of it." San Francisco Chronicle
Review
"A splendid sequel....With The Woman Who Walked Into Doors and Paula Spencer, there is the sense of another grand franchise in the making." Seattle Times
Review
"This novel is a welcome return to form for Doyle." Philadelphia Inquirer
Review
"We might think being careful would be thin material for fiction, but Doyle...has the skill and, above all, the patience to pull it off." Los Angeles Times
Synopsis
The follow up to Roddy Doyle's acclaimed novel The Woman Who Walked Into Doors Watch for Roddy Doyle's new novel, Smile, coming in October of 2017
Roddy Doyle 's beautifully wrought tale revisits the Dublin housewife-heroine of his earlier acclaimed novel, The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. Paula is now forty-seven, her abusive husband is long dead, and it's been four months and five days since she's had a drink. She cleans offices to get by and lives from paycheck to paycheck. But as she manages to get through each day sober, she begins to piece her life back together and to resurrect her family. Told with the unmistakable wit of Doyle's unique voice, this is a redemptive tale about a brave and tenacious woman.
Synopsis
"An extraordinary story about an ordinary life."
--People 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 caf 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.
Synopsis
"Pure, undiluted pleasure" (
The Washington Post) from Booker Prize- winning author Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle 's beautifully wrought tale revisits the Dublin housewife-heroine of his earlier acclaimed novel, The Woman Who Walked Into Doors. Paula is now forty-seven, her abusive husband is long dead, and it's been four months and five days since she's had a drink. She cleans offices to get by and lives from paycheck to paycheck. But as she manages to get through each day sober, she begins to piece her life back together and to resurrect her family. Told with the unmistakable wit of Doyle's unique voice, this is a redemptive tale about a brave and tenacious woman.
About the Author
Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of 6 acclaimed novels, and Rory and Ita, a memoir of his parents. He won the Booker Prize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.