Irish childhood memoir. Story told by the child. This is not a tale of ‘Rain and misery’. Just ‘listen’ to the child talking and you will understand what is really going on in the background. There’s tears and there’s laughter, sometimes at home and sometimes in children’s homes run by Christian Brothers who are not very Christian.
Limerick City, 1995
Myself and my wife Marcia are on holiday in Ireland. I’m showing her the row of cottages my family had lived in nearly forty years before, when I was aged six. We were evicted after my father lost his very good job as a radio officer at Shannon Airport, due to his heavy drinking and absenteeism.
As I point to Number 4, a lady comes out of number Number 3 and asks if she can help. I explain why we are here and tell her about my family connections with Number 4. She looks at me for a short time and then says, ‘You’ll be little Brian then.’
Her name is Carmel Ryan and, standing in the warm summer sunshine, she tells us stories of what went on in my family in the early nineteen fifties, some of them good, some bad, but all very interesting to myself and Marcia. It amazes me to find out that in the row of six cottages there is only one change of family name in nearly four decades.
After a twenty-minute chat we say our goodbyes and, following Carmel’s recommendation, make our way to O’Connell Street in the city where we find a nice coffee shop at the front of one of the big stores. Marcia wants to know more about my childhood in Ireland (she is a ‘Yorkshire rose’). I start to tell her about the turbulent times of family life when we lived at Number 4 Crosbie Row, behind King John’s castle on King’s Island.
After the second cup of coffee she stops me talking and says she wants me to tell her in the way that Carmel Ryan talks.
“Did your mother call you Little Brian? And what were the words that people would use back then in Limerick?”
I tell her that my mother called me Little Brian or Young Brian, which in Gaelic is Brian Óg and sounds like Brian Ogue, as in vogue, and that the word ‘liten’, that she used a lot, means dirty. Yes, Marcia says, that’s what I mean.
“OK, but let’s get out of here, these coffees are getting a bit expensive.” She gives me one of her looks. “Typical you!”
Right, here we go, I’ll do my best. I hope you like it. I’ll tell you the story from the child’s point of view, in a child’s words. Some of the names will have been changed, and some might be spelled wrongly, mostly ’cos I can’t remember them all.
 
 
 
 



        

            
            

                
Publisher
                
Little Brian's One Book Bookshop (25 Nov. 2021)
            
            
            

                
Paperback
                
498 pages
            
            
            

                
Dimensions
                
12.7 x 2.87 x 20.32 cm
            
            
            

                
Language
                
English
            
            
            

                
ISBN-10
                
1399909584
            
            
            

                
ISBN-13
                
978-1399909587
            
            
        

         





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