AUTHOR: Brendan O’Carroll GENRE: Adult Fiction PAGES: 192 RELEASED:1994 SERIES: Agnes Browne #1 SYNOPSIS: Agnes Browne is a formidable woman. By day she sells fruit and vegetables from a stall in Dublin’s bustling Moore Street. By night, she is wife to Redser Browne and mammy, nurse, teacher and psychiatrist to her unruly brood of seven children. Then Redser dies. How Agnes copes with widowhood, with the help of her best pal Marion, an unquenchable sense of humour and the attentions of the amorous Pierre, makes this a memorable and moving account of one woman’s life and of inner-city Dublin in the late ‘60s. The laugh-out-loud story of how one mammy and her seven orphans navigate life in Dublin in the late 1960s…
It’s March 1967 and mother-of-seven Agnes Browne has just become a widow at age 34. But even the death of Redser isn’t going to put her life on hold. She’s got seven children, ranging from three to fourteen, to raise; a fruit & vegetable stall in Moore Street to run; Bingo nights with her best friend Marion; drinks to be had at Foley’s; and dreams of dancing with Cliff Richards. Not on the agenda is Mark wanting to leave school to get a job, Cathy causing trouble for the nuns at school, the arrival of the attractive Pierre, and a health scare that hits close to home. But Agnes seems to take it all in her stride, showing the world that you can’t knock down a Browne that easily. I absolutely LOVE Mrs Brown’s Boys, having not only watched the current BBC series, but also going back to watch the original direct-to-DVD series as well. Like with both series, this book was an absolute riot and Brendan showed he’s able to deliver comedy on the page just as easily as he can on-screen. This book is such an interesting look at life in Dublin in the late 1960s, and it’s easy to see that, in creating the character of Agnes Brown, Brendan has pulled a lot of inspiration from the people and experiences around him. While the focus of the story is no doubt on Agnes and her family, there are brief looks at what life was like for those who lived in the tenements and worked on the northside during this period. Like with the TV series, I laughed-out-loud a LOT while reading. For such a quick read, Brendan really did cram in a lot of comedy, without it feeling like he was going over-the-top with it. Balancing out all these laughs were some more tender and heartwarming moments, some of which I wasn’t expecting for Brendan to feature in Agnes’ story. While absolutely anyone can pick up this book and enjoy it, the target audience is definitely those who have some knowledge of these characters - I guarantee you will enjoy this prequel so much more if you’ve watched either of the series. If you’re a fan of Mrs Brown’s Boys, you definitely need to dive into this prequel and get an insight into the lives of the Browne family before their lives inspired the series we all know and love. Now I just need to watch the film 90s Agnes Browne, which is an adaptation of this book… |
Categories
All
Affiliates
See DISCLAIMER.
|