The Chisellers
Table of Contents
Praise for Brendan O‘Carroll and his bestselling novel
The Mammy
“Cheerful ... as unpretentious and satisfying as a
home-cooked meal ... with a delicious dessert of an
ending.” —
The New York Times Book Review
“Reads like Frank McCourt’s
Angela’s Ashes
on
Prozac ...Jaunty, charming.”
—
Entertainment Weekly
“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
The youngest of eleven children, BRENDAN O‘CARROLL was born in North Dublin in 1955. An acclaimed playright and stand-up comedian, he is the creator of the popular Irish radio show,
Mrs Browne’s Boys. The Mammy,
the first novel in his bestselling Mrs. Browne trilogy, was the basis for the feature film
Agnes Browne,
directed by and starring Anjelica Huston.
The Chisellers
and
The Granny
are the second and final books in the trilogy. All three novels are available in Plume editions.
“The Mammy
is a heartwarming and very funny
book.” — Roddy Doyle, author of
Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha and A Star Called Henry
“Irreverently comical.”
-Entertainment Weekly
“O‘Carroll has done one hell of a job capturing
the absolute essence of a widowed mother
of seven in working-class Dublin.”
— Anjelica Huston
“Shades of O‘Casey, as well as Brendan Behan. A
story as colorful as Moore Street itself, but there is
also pathos, compassion, and irony.”
-Entertainer
“Hilarious and irreverent. A must-read.”
— Gabriel Byrne
“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
“The Mammy
is one of those books which almost
demands to be read in one sitting, and its colorful
descriptions of life in Dublin in the sixties will have
Dublin natives feeling nostalgic and others feeling as
if they were natives ...
The Mammy
is guaranteed
to make readers laugh. I didn’t want
to let go of Agnes Browne.”
— Irish Voice
PLUME
Published by Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, U.S.A.
Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglincon Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
M4P 2Y3 (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)
Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL England
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(a division of Penguin Books Ltd.)
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(a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.)
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Johannesburg 2196,South Africa
Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England
First published by Plume, a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Originally published in Ireland by The O‘Brien Press.
First American Printing, March 2000
20
Copyright © Brendan O‘Carroll,1995
All rights reserved
REGISTERED TRADEMARK — MARCA REGISTRADA
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
O‘Carroll, Brendan.
The chisellers / Brendan O’Carroll.
p. cm.
eISBN : 978-1-101-15339-0
1. City and town life — Ireland — Dublin — Fiction. 2. Mother and child —
Ireland — Dublin — Fiction- 3. Gangsters — Ireland — Dublin — Fiction.
4. Family — Ireland — Dublin — Fiction. 5. Dublin (Ireland) — Ficnon. 1. Title.
PRGOGS.C3G C48 2000
823’.914 21 — dc21 99-046096
Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.
PUBLISHER’S NOTE
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
BOOKS ARE AVAILABLE AT QUANTITY DISCOUNTS WHEN USED TO PROMOTE PRODUCTS OR SERVICES. FOR INFORMATION PLEASE WRITE TO PREMIUM MARKETING DIVISION, PENGUIN PUTNAM INC, 375 HUDSON STREET, NEW YORK, NEW YORK 100
1
4
Introduction
Firstly let me thank you for buying this, my second novel. The success of my first offering
The Mammy,
published in 1994, took me completely by surprise. For this I thank all of you, readers, booksellers and my publishers.
The biggest thrill I have had from the fallout of
The Mammy,
has been the enormous number of people that have told me that it was the first book they had ever read. If you are one of those, I hope this is your second, that you have discovered the joy that books can bring and go on to entertain yourself with the thousands of wonderful, adventurous, mysterious, scary, and comical books that are lying on the shelves of bookstores right now whispering to all who pass them, ‘Pick me ... Pick me!!’
I was introduced to the beauty of reading when I was just nine years old. A young schoolteacher named Billy Flood gave me a tattered copy of Treasure Island. Both that man and that book changed my life forever. Nothing, ( O.K., with the possible exception of sex!) gives me more pleasure than a good book.
Writing a book is a very lonely task, and yet you do not really write alone, for without my partner and friend Gerry Browne spurring me on, or Evelyn, my secretary, checking over my nightly output (I do all my writing between midnight and 4am) or Tommy Swarbrigg taking the pressure off me just at the right time, or my co-workers in The Outrageous Comedy Show - Gerry Simpson, Shay, John, Bugsy, David Molloy and David Lang — making the extra time for me by doubling their efforts while we are on the road, without all of these, there would be no book. You will not see their names on the cover of this book, but take my word for it, their contribution was enormous, as it is in every venture we undertake. I am blessed to be playing with a great team.
Writers also need inspiration. Different things inspire different people. I am always inspired by people who succeed against the odds or who refuse to give up even when they are flat on their backs, and then rise to success with only their self-belief and courage as tools. These you will find remain humble people, finding no need to wear the badge of achievement on their sleeves, just content with the results of their endeavours in their hearts. Here are just some of the people who inspire me - some of the names you will recognise, some you won’t: Gerry Browne, John Courtenay, Eamon Coghlan, Moya Doherty, Niall Quinn, Betty Hussey, Eileen Frei, Mary Cullen, Annie Browne, Eamon Gregg, Patricia Hoffman, John Fallon, Stephen Collins, Roddy Doyle, Nell McCafferty, Brendan Daly and, of course, Doreen O‘Caffoll. Every one of them a hero!