Are You Somebody?: The Accidental Memoir of a Dublin Woman - Softcover

O'Faolain, Nuala

Softcover

ISBN 10: 080508987X ISBN 13: 9780805089875

Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL, 2009

Synopsis

"You don't want the book to end; it glows with compassion and you want more, more because you know this is a fine wine of a life, richer as it ages."--Frank McCourt, author of Angela's Ashes

One of nine children born into a penniless North Dublin family, Nuala O'Faolain was saved from a harrowing childhood by her love of books and reading. Though she ultimately became one of Ireland's best-known columnists, her professional success did little to ease her loneliness and longing for a deep connection to the world. Are You Somebody? distills her experiences into a wisdom that can only come from an obstinate refusal to shrink from life.

This commemorative edition of her landmark memoir celebrates O'Faolain's remarkable life and work with a new foreword from Frank McCourt as well as additional archival materials. Strikingly vivid and starkly emotional, Are You Somebody? is, like O'Faolain herself, a singular example of courage, honesty, and bold living.

About this title

Review:

"Are You Somebody is an extraordinary, powerful memoir. It is beautifully written, with an honesty that is both sensitive and stark." --Roddy Doyle

"A remarkable memoir, poignant, truthful, and imparting that quiet wisdom which suffering brings." --Edna O'Brien

From the Publisher:

Book Information and Reviews
"...O'Faolain writes well, often beautifully, and her candor and honesty and ultimately her compassion, set this memoir well apart" --The Washington Post

"When you read Nuala O'Faolain's "Are You Somebody," you'll wish Ireland was giving out some kind of a Booker or Pulitzer prize. . . . You don't want the book to end." --Frank McCourt, author of "Angela's Ashes"

Are You Somebody is a moving and fascinating portrait of both Ireland and one of its most popular and respected commentators. This gem of honesty and insight had its first life as the introduction to a collection of Nuala O'Faolain's Irish Times columns that became a number-one bestseller in Ireland. It now stands alone. Ireland has fallen in love with this memoir of an Irish woman of letters, and now this country will too.

"Likely to become a classic of Irish autobiography." --Colm Tóibín, Times Literary Supplement

""Are You Somebody" is an extraordinary, powerful memoir. It is beautifully written, with an honesty that is both sensitive and stark." --Roddy Doyle

"A remarkable memoir, poignant, truthful, and imparting that quiet wisdom which suffering brings." --Edna O'Brien

Nuala O'Faolain has been a writer, a university professor, a television producer, and, most recently, a columnist for the Irish Times. She lives in Dublin.

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martins Press-3PL
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 080508987X
• ISBN 13: 9780805089875
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 2
• Number of pages: 240