Follow this link.
http://www.herald.ie/lifestyle/parents/first-days-of-school-1462711.html
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Review, Saving Grace by Ciara Geraghty,
Saving Grace By Ciara Geraghty.
Published by Hachette Books Ireland at 15.99.
Published by The Irish Examiner on 24th August 2008.
Grace O’Brien is in a mess. She wakes, to find herself in bed with the office geek. She doesn’t know where she is or how she got there; and in her hung-over state, she forgets her bridesmaid fitting. Arriving late, she splits the size 14 dress. The bride, her sister Clare, is understanding, but her mum is not best pleased.
Along with all the confusion, is shame. Grace has been going out with the wonderful Shane for almost two years now. He’s an Adonis, but, we soon learn, he’s also self-centred and controlling. Now living in London he plays on Grace’s insecurities.
There are so many new authors writing about love; about relationships, family dynamics and friendship. But its years since I read a debut that does it so well. Told in the first person by Grace, this novel simply bubbles along. I loved it.
Saving Grace is a page turner, but that doesn’t stop it from being beautifully written. Its characters are so real, so rounded, and so empathic that not only do you feel you know them all, you fervently wish that you did.
There’s Caroline, Shane’s sister, a beauty, whom men adore; all except for the blind date that she decides is ‘the one.’ There’s Laura the office gossip, and self confessed office slut- until, that is, she, too, meets her match. And there’s a huge cast of colleagues, neighbours, and family, each one of them lovingly drawn.
Then there’s Patrick, Grace’s brother, the centre of it all, even though he drowned in Spain a year earlier. It’s not just his letters that keep his memory alive. It’s the grief and guilt felt by everyone who knew and loved him that makes him the lynchpin to everything else that happens.
The action follows the weeks before Clare’s wedding. We follow Grace through her unexpected promotion at work; through her gradual romantic awakening, and with her increasingly fractured relationship with her mother.
Nothing Grace does pleases her mother. She accuses Grace of always having to be the centre of attention. Things come to a head on Clare’s wedding day. Determined to take a back seat, Grace ends up stealing the show in the worst possible way. Can things resolve?
Reading the book in a café, I laughed out loud. I cried too. I was totally immersed in Grace’s world. This Dublin writer is a name to watch.
©Sue Leonard.
Published by Hachette Books Ireland at 15.99.
Published by The Irish Examiner on 24th August 2008.
Grace O’Brien is in a mess. She wakes, to find herself in bed with the office geek. She doesn’t know where she is or how she got there; and in her hung-over state, she forgets her bridesmaid fitting. Arriving late, she splits the size 14 dress. The bride, her sister Clare, is understanding, but her mum is not best pleased.
Along with all the confusion, is shame. Grace has been going out with the wonderful Shane for almost two years now. He’s an Adonis, but, we soon learn, he’s also self-centred and controlling. Now living in London he plays on Grace’s insecurities.
There are so many new authors writing about love; about relationships, family dynamics and friendship. But its years since I read a debut that does it so well. Told in the first person by Grace, this novel simply bubbles along. I loved it.
Saving Grace is a page turner, but that doesn’t stop it from being beautifully written. Its characters are so real, so rounded, and so empathic that not only do you feel you know them all, you fervently wish that you did.
There’s Caroline, Shane’s sister, a beauty, whom men adore; all except for the blind date that she decides is ‘the one.’ There’s Laura the office gossip, and self confessed office slut- until, that is, she, too, meets her match. And there’s a huge cast of colleagues, neighbours, and family, each one of them lovingly drawn.
Then there’s Patrick, Grace’s brother, the centre of it all, even though he drowned in Spain a year earlier. It’s not just his letters that keep his memory alive. It’s the grief and guilt felt by everyone who knew and loved him that makes him the lynchpin to everything else that happens.
The action follows the weeks before Clare’s wedding. We follow Grace through her unexpected promotion at work; through her gradual romantic awakening, and with her increasingly fractured relationship with her mother.
Nothing Grace does pleases her mother. She accuses Grace of always having to be the centre of attention. Things come to a head on Clare’s wedding day. Determined to take a back seat, Grace ends up stealing the show in the worst possible way. Can things resolve?
Reading the book in a café, I laughed out loud. I cried too. I was totally immersed in Grace’s world. This Dublin writer is a name to watch.
©Sue Leonard.
Free Birthing - (Unassisted Births.)
Free Birthing.
By Sue Leonard.
Published in Feelgood, The Irish Examiner on Friday, 22nd August.
Most women give birth in a hospital. It’s where they feel safe, and cared for. Others prefer to have their babies in the comfort of their home, with the assistance of a trained, professional midwife.
Some women go further. They are choosing to give birth at home without anyone medical present at all. They’re going for an unassisted or Free Childbirth.
Freebirthing has become popular in the States. The movement is led by Laura Shanley, a mum from Colorado who has written a book about Freebirthing. She had all her four children that way.
A few women in England are following Laura’s example. Some of them could be seen on a TV programme ‘Outlaw Births,’ shown on Channel 5 back in July.
Does Freebirthing happen in Ireland? Krysia Lynch coordinator of The Home Birth Association of Ireland has heard of such births spoken of.
“But here they are not so much Free Births as ‘unassisted deliveries,” she says. “This is where a woman actively chooses to have an unassisted delivery, but will not have an unassisted pregnancy. She will be taking ante natal care, either from a hospital or a homebirth midwife.
“The Home Birth Association does not support unassisted birth,” she stresses. “We advise women that if they want to have their baby at home they must be under the care of a professional.
“But some women will do so. And for a whole variety of reasons, some logical and some less so. Some will talk about it in hallowed terms.
“A midwife may not need to assist much in the first stage of labour. You might manage without her in the second stage. It’s during the third stage that complications can happen. I think it’s complete insanity to go it alone.”
Irish women won’t admit to many people that they planned an unassisted delivery.
“The husband will call the midwife and say that the baby has already been born. Or they’ll go to a hospital to get the baby checked and say the birth took them by surprise.”
Freebirthing is legal in Ireland. There is no legislation outlawing it, and no law covering the area at all. There is a law saying that only a medical practitioner should attend a woman, except in an emergency, but it would it would be hard to prove that should a partner assist, he hadn’t done so because of urgent necessity.
Tracy Donegan, a Doula, can understand why a woman would choose an unassisted birth.
“I don’t see many of them, but I am seeing some; particularly those who have had bad hospital experiences,” she says. “They feel confident. They have no fear. They think birth is a normal part of life.
“But Irish couples don’t openly admit to planning an unattended birth. In Ireland saying you’re having a homebirth is seen as strange. Saying you are doing it without a midwife, they’d think you were insane.”
Sarah (name changed,) had decided on a homebirth after a horrendous hospital birth.
“The birth in hospital was, in my eyes inhumane,” she says. “My son was born in two hours, but it took two years of counselling to get over it. My doctor diagnosed post traumatic stress disorder.
“I researched the area of birth. I became involved in different organisations and I trained as a doula. For my second birth I engaged an independent midwife. But somewhere deep inside me I knew I was going to birth this baby myself. An instinct told me it was going to be ok.
“At the end of the pregnancy I felt, ‘I am ready. I felt connected and knew everything would be ok. I had no pain until the baby was coming out. My husband was there and my best friend, but I was in another world. I lay on the floor and the contractions were intense but not painful.
“Then I felt sick and realised the baby was coming. Two pushes and he came out. None of us were afraid. I felt enveloped in safety and love. We then called the midwife who took over. There was such peace in that room.”
SIDEBAR. WHY WOMEN CHOOSE AN UNASSISTED BIRTH.
· Women who have had a traumatic hospital experience, whose only option is a hospital birth. Maybe there are no homebirth midwives in their area, or they do not fit the criterion. They may be in a pathological state.
· Women who want a home birth for whatever reason, and cannot get one.
· Women who actively want an unassisted birth. They may have had a few homebirths already. They realise they could, actually, do it on their own.
· Women who have a deep spiritual connection with birth. Maybe they have worked as a doula, or have witnessed lots of homebirths. They trust their body and the process of birth. They would aim for an unassisted delivery, but they trust that their body will sense if something is wrong. They’d then call a midwife.
© Sue Leonard. 2008.
By Sue Leonard.
Published in Feelgood, The Irish Examiner on Friday, 22nd August.
Most women give birth in a hospital. It’s where they feel safe, and cared for. Others prefer to have their babies in the comfort of their home, with the assistance of a trained, professional midwife.
Some women go further. They are choosing to give birth at home without anyone medical present at all. They’re going for an unassisted or Free Childbirth.
Freebirthing has become popular in the States. The movement is led by Laura Shanley, a mum from Colorado who has written a book about Freebirthing. She had all her four children that way.
A few women in England are following Laura’s example. Some of them could be seen on a TV programme ‘Outlaw Births,’ shown on Channel 5 back in July.
Does Freebirthing happen in Ireland? Krysia Lynch coordinator of The Home Birth Association of Ireland has heard of such births spoken of.
“But here they are not so much Free Births as ‘unassisted deliveries,” she says. “This is where a woman actively chooses to have an unassisted delivery, but will not have an unassisted pregnancy. She will be taking ante natal care, either from a hospital or a homebirth midwife.
“The Home Birth Association does not support unassisted birth,” she stresses. “We advise women that if they want to have their baby at home they must be under the care of a professional.
“But some women will do so. And for a whole variety of reasons, some logical and some less so. Some will talk about it in hallowed terms.
“A midwife may not need to assist much in the first stage of labour. You might manage without her in the second stage. It’s during the third stage that complications can happen. I think it’s complete insanity to go it alone.”
Irish women won’t admit to many people that they planned an unassisted delivery.
“The husband will call the midwife and say that the baby has already been born. Or they’ll go to a hospital to get the baby checked and say the birth took them by surprise.”
Freebirthing is legal in Ireland. There is no legislation outlawing it, and no law covering the area at all. There is a law saying that only a medical practitioner should attend a woman, except in an emergency, but it would it would be hard to prove that should a partner assist, he hadn’t done so because of urgent necessity.
Tracy Donegan, a Doula, can understand why a woman would choose an unassisted birth.
“I don’t see many of them, but I am seeing some; particularly those who have had bad hospital experiences,” she says. “They feel confident. They have no fear. They think birth is a normal part of life.
“But Irish couples don’t openly admit to planning an unattended birth. In Ireland saying you’re having a homebirth is seen as strange. Saying you are doing it without a midwife, they’d think you were insane.”
Sarah (name changed,) had decided on a homebirth after a horrendous hospital birth.
“The birth in hospital was, in my eyes inhumane,” she says. “My son was born in two hours, but it took two years of counselling to get over it. My doctor diagnosed post traumatic stress disorder.
“I researched the area of birth. I became involved in different organisations and I trained as a doula. For my second birth I engaged an independent midwife. But somewhere deep inside me I knew I was going to birth this baby myself. An instinct told me it was going to be ok.
“At the end of the pregnancy I felt, ‘I am ready. I felt connected and knew everything would be ok. I had no pain until the baby was coming out. My husband was there and my best friend, but I was in another world. I lay on the floor and the contractions were intense but not painful.
“Then I felt sick and realised the baby was coming. Two pushes and he came out. None of us were afraid. I felt enveloped in safety and love. We then called the midwife who took over. There was such peace in that room.”
SIDEBAR. WHY WOMEN CHOOSE AN UNASSISTED BIRTH.
· Women who have had a traumatic hospital experience, whose only option is a hospital birth. Maybe there are no homebirth midwives in their area, or they do not fit the criterion. They may be in a pathological state.
· Women who want a home birth for whatever reason, and cannot get one.
· Women who actively want an unassisted birth. They may have had a few homebirths already. They realise they could, actually, do it on their own.
· Women who have a deep spiritual connection with birth. Maybe they have worked as a doula, or have witnessed lots of homebirths. They trust their body and the process of birth. They would aim for an unassisted delivery, but they trust that their body will sense if something is wrong. They’d then call a midwife.
© Sue Leonard. 2008.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Giving Up the Good Life. Elained Bannon.
Giving up the Good Life.
Elaine Bannon
Interviewed by Sue Leonard.
Published in The Irish Independent 14th April. 2008.
Elaine Bannon had life sussed. She had a high flying career in the lighting industry; a house and a flash car. She took two holidays a year and enjoyed countless weekends away. But in 2002, Elaine took stock.
“I celebrated my 40th birthday with a friend in Kenya. It was a typical package; we went on Safari for a week and then spent a week on a beach relaxing. But when I got back to work in Ireland, I couldn’t settle down.
“Everyone seemed to want more. The suppliers wanted more money; my employer wanted more profit, and the customers wanted more discount. Suddenly the Celtic Tiger ideal didn’t make sense to me.
“Where I had been people didn’t even have clean water. I’d seen poverty. I’d seen kids who hadn’t shoes or a school to go to.
“I handed in my notice, and left work in March 2003. Our courier, on that holiday had told me about a friend of hers who ran a free school in Mombassa. I asked did she want a volunteer, and I went to see her.
“Then I returned to Ireland and wrote to some customers asking could they give me money to help the school and I raised around 15,000 euro. I went to help in the school for a year and I put the cash to good use.
“I did everything. We had a clinic. Some days I would run that cleaning up wounds and treating malaria; other days I would teach; help cook lunch or sweep the floor.
“I met some Maasai people who became friends. They invited me to visit their homes in Rombo- the most Southern part of the Kenyan Rift Valley where the Maasai Tribe live. They live in huts made from mud and cow dung; they wear traditional clothes and, mainly, still live through their animals; cows, sheep and goats.
“It was like going back to the dark ages. There were no roads; just dirt tracks, and there was little access to education. The only source of water was the river or the spring. And the poverty is terrible.
“They are peaceful people, and hospitable. I fell in love with the area, but I became aware of their profound difficulties. I wanted to help. I talked to local leaders, like a Roman Catholic priest and a Pentecostal Bishop. One of the Maasai guys had worked for a charity that had run out of money. I asked what their aims had been.
“I went back to Ireland after the year, and thought about the Maasai. And I decided to go back there and live. I’ve been there ever since.
“I have formed a community- a precursor to an NGO called Light of Maasai. My aim is to help the people with education, with health, and with water projects. Three young Maasai men from the area help me. They translate, and point me in the right direction. They know the lay of the land.
“I live in a little house provided by a mission. It had a sheet iron roof, a bathroom, and, mostly, running water. It’s basic, but comfortable. I raise money in Ireland. Matt Porter of The Kedington Group, and through him the Rotary club have been amazing. And I do one project at a time.
“One month I might dig a well. The next I’ll build a classroom. That might take five or six months. The work makes a huge difference. The people love me. They call me Narikuinkerra, or Nariku for short. It means brought by the children.
“AIDS is a problem here, but children die of diarrhoea too. We’ve had a drought. Cows aren’t producing milk and there’s no money for food.
“You can plough an acre, with your bare hands; you can plant it and fertilise it, but if it doesn’t rain for a year the crop dies in the ground.
“Every morning when I wake up I will find at least two women in my garden, waiting to see me. Perhaps they are starving and need a bag of rice. Maybe their baby has malaria or typhoid and they don’t have the money to pay for the medicine.
“Perhaps her husband wants to take her daughter out of school; to circumcise her and marry her off. She wants help to stop that. In that case we try and get the girl into boarding school away from the village. We may involve a local chief, or, in the last resort, the police.
“Female circumcision is against the law in Kenya, but unless the family is educated, all Maasai girls are circumcised. It is seen as the beginning of womanhood. We try to use words that are respectful, but we do stress it is against the law.
“When they ask me to sponsor a child I first have to make sure the story is legitimate. If it is, I say, ‘you will have to wait a month or a year. I will do my best to get you money.’
“We’ve just opened a school. 3 classrooms were built by us, and two by AMREF- the African Medical Research Foundation. The women told me that their children had to walk 12km to the nearest school. They might meet wild animals, and in the rainy season they’d have to go through dangerous riverbeds.
“I said, ‘give me two years and I will see what I can do.’ In the meantime, I asked them to collect rough stones for foundations and clear an area. And they did that. I’d no idea where the money would come from; in the end Belgrove Senior Boy’s school in Clontarf raised it. Primary kids built a school for primary kids. And it’s called Belgrove School.
“The recent skirmishes didn’t really affect Maasai land. After the election we could get no newspapers and no rice for a while. And someone, one day, spread hate leaflets along the main road, saying the Kikuyu Tribe had better leave the area, but no-one took much notice.
“In response we bought maize and had it ground into flour. We gave it to the community as a peace gesture. We said, ‘we are sharing this from our table. You are starving. If your neighbour is starving too, help him, whatever tribe he is in.
“Sometimes people ask me about politics. I say, ‘I am only here to help you go to school and get clean water. Let me worry about those things.’ I don’t worry about the trouble spreading. What’s the point? I just get on with life.
“I don’t have holidays now, except to come home. I don’t need good clothes. Nobody judges me. But I never leave the house without eyeliner and lipstick on, and I always wear perfume.
“I eat maize, beans, rice kale and fruit, like the locals. There is a shop, but you can’t buy bread butter or chicken. I go to Mombassa every six to eight weeks for two or three days. I go to a supermarket, then, and buy sausages, pasta, butter and garlic.
“I miss my mother’s Sunday dinner, and I miss having a hot shower. I hate washing sheets and towels in cold water in a bucket. But I love it here. I love watching the clear night sky. I can’t see myself coming home anytime soon.
“I was in Ireland with two Maasai men last year. A friend showed us his new car. It had five individual screens for his children to watch films. It had GPS, and if someone tried to break into it, the car would ring your mobile phone, and you could then make the horn blast by remote control.
“I thought, ‘what incredible technology. But if they can do that, why can’t they find clean water for the Maasai kids to drink?’ It makes no sense to me at all.”
For more information or to donate; www.lightofmaasai.com
©Sue Leonard. 2008.
Elaine Bannon
Interviewed by Sue Leonard.
Published in The Irish Independent 14th April. 2008.
Elaine Bannon had life sussed. She had a high flying career in the lighting industry; a house and a flash car. She took two holidays a year and enjoyed countless weekends away. But in 2002, Elaine took stock.
“I celebrated my 40th birthday with a friend in Kenya. It was a typical package; we went on Safari for a week and then spent a week on a beach relaxing. But when I got back to work in Ireland, I couldn’t settle down.
“Everyone seemed to want more. The suppliers wanted more money; my employer wanted more profit, and the customers wanted more discount. Suddenly the Celtic Tiger ideal didn’t make sense to me.
“Where I had been people didn’t even have clean water. I’d seen poverty. I’d seen kids who hadn’t shoes or a school to go to.
“I handed in my notice, and left work in March 2003. Our courier, on that holiday had told me about a friend of hers who ran a free school in Mombassa. I asked did she want a volunteer, and I went to see her.
“Then I returned to Ireland and wrote to some customers asking could they give me money to help the school and I raised around 15,000 euro. I went to help in the school for a year and I put the cash to good use.
“I did everything. We had a clinic. Some days I would run that cleaning up wounds and treating malaria; other days I would teach; help cook lunch or sweep the floor.
“I met some Maasai people who became friends. They invited me to visit their homes in Rombo- the most Southern part of the Kenyan Rift Valley where the Maasai Tribe live. They live in huts made from mud and cow dung; they wear traditional clothes and, mainly, still live through their animals; cows, sheep and goats.
“It was like going back to the dark ages. There were no roads; just dirt tracks, and there was little access to education. The only source of water was the river or the spring. And the poverty is terrible.
“They are peaceful people, and hospitable. I fell in love with the area, but I became aware of their profound difficulties. I wanted to help. I talked to local leaders, like a Roman Catholic priest and a Pentecostal Bishop. One of the Maasai guys had worked for a charity that had run out of money. I asked what their aims had been.
“I went back to Ireland after the year, and thought about the Maasai. And I decided to go back there and live. I’ve been there ever since.
“I have formed a community- a precursor to an NGO called Light of Maasai. My aim is to help the people with education, with health, and with water projects. Three young Maasai men from the area help me. They translate, and point me in the right direction. They know the lay of the land.
“I live in a little house provided by a mission. It had a sheet iron roof, a bathroom, and, mostly, running water. It’s basic, but comfortable. I raise money in Ireland. Matt Porter of The Kedington Group, and through him the Rotary club have been amazing. And I do one project at a time.
“One month I might dig a well. The next I’ll build a classroom. That might take five or six months. The work makes a huge difference. The people love me. They call me Narikuinkerra, or Nariku for short. It means brought by the children.
“AIDS is a problem here, but children die of diarrhoea too. We’ve had a drought. Cows aren’t producing milk and there’s no money for food.
“You can plough an acre, with your bare hands; you can plant it and fertilise it, but if it doesn’t rain for a year the crop dies in the ground.
“Every morning when I wake up I will find at least two women in my garden, waiting to see me. Perhaps they are starving and need a bag of rice. Maybe their baby has malaria or typhoid and they don’t have the money to pay for the medicine.
“Perhaps her husband wants to take her daughter out of school; to circumcise her and marry her off. She wants help to stop that. In that case we try and get the girl into boarding school away from the village. We may involve a local chief, or, in the last resort, the police.
“Female circumcision is against the law in Kenya, but unless the family is educated, all Maasai girls are circumcised. It is seen as the beginning of womanhood. We try to use words that are respectful, but we do stress it is against the law.
“When they ask me to sponsor a child I first have to make sure the story is legitimate. If it is, I say, ‘you will have to wait a month or a year. I will do my best to get you money.’
“We’ve just opened a school. 3 classrooms were built by us, and two by AMREF- the African Medical Research Foundation. The women told me that their children had to walk 12km to the nearest school. They might meet wild animals, and in the rainy season they’d have to go through dangerous riverbeds.
“I said, ‘give me two years and I will see what I can do.’ In the meantime, I asked them to collect rough stones for foundations and clear an area. And they did that. I’d no idea where the money would come from; in the end Belgrove Senior Boy’s school in Clontarf raised it. Primary kids built a school for primary kids. And it’s called Belgrove School.
“The recent skirmishes didn’t really affect Maasai land. After the election we could get no newspapers and no rice for a while. And someone, one day, spread hate leaflets along the main road, saying the Kikuyu Tribe had better leave the area, but no-one took much notice.
“In response we bought maize and had it ground into flour. We gave it to the community as a peace gesture. We said, ‘we are sharing this from our table. You are starving. If your neighbour is starving too, help him, whatever tribe he is in.
“Sometimes people ask me about politics. I say, ‘I am only here to help you go to school and get clean water. Let me worry about those things.’ I don’t worry about the trouble spreading. What’s the point? I just get on with life.
“I don’t have holidays now, except to come home. I don’t need good clothes. Nobody judges me. But I never leave the house without eyeliner and lipstick on, and I always wear perfume.
“I eat maize, beans, rice kale and fruit, like the locals. There is a shop, but you can’t buy bread butter or chicken. I go to Mombassa every six to eight weeks for two or three days. I go to a supermarket, then, and buy sausages, pasta, butter and garlic.
“I miss my mother’s Sunday dinner, and I miss having a hot shower. I hate washing sheets and towels in cold water in a bucket. But I love it here. I love watching the clear night sky. I can’t see myself coming home anytime soon.
“I was in Ireland with two Maasai men last year. A friend showed us his new car. It had five individual screens for his children to watch films. It had GPS, and if someone tried to break into it, the car would ring your mobile phone, and you could then make the horn blast by remote control.
“I thought, ‘what incredible technology. But if they can do that, why can’t they find clean water for the Maasai kids to drink?’ It makes no sense to me at all.”
For more information or to donate; www.lightofmaasai.com
©Sue Leonard. 2008.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Molly Fox's Birthday by Deirdre Madden.
Molly Fox’s Birthday by Deirdre Madden
Published by Faber and Faber at 12.99 euro.
Reviewed by Sue Leonard.
Published in The Irish Examiner 9th August 2008.
It’s the 21st June, the longest day, when the unnamed narrator of Molly Fox’s Birthday wakes from a dream. She cannot, at first, think where she is. Then she remembers; she is living in her best friend Molly Fox’s Dublin house, while the renowned actress takes a sojourn in New York.
So starts this latest novel from Deirdre Madden; an Orange Prize shortlisted author from the North, who teaches at Trinity College Dublin.
The narrator, a playwright, is trying to start a new play, but she can’t concentrate. So she spends the day ruminating on her past, and remembering the friends who have sustained her along the way. Foremost is Molly. The two met through the play that made them both famous.
The friendship between Molly and the narrator seems uncomplicated at the start of the novel. Both passionate about the theatre, and believing a play ‘wasn’t something that you saw, it was something that happened to you,’ they loved dissecting their roles.
As the day progresses, though, we start to see a darker side to the friendship. As the narrator potters around Dublin, deep in thought, the complexities of Molly’s character are gradually laid bare.
The past leaks into the present in the evening, when Molly’s brother appears, forgetting his sister is away. He is followed by Andrew, the narrator’s best friend from Trinity days; a once troubled student from the North, who has reinvented himself as a TV art historian.
The narrator is dismayed that both visitors fail to look pleased when they find her there. And talking to them, of Molly, we start to doubt what we know about the actress. Is she perhaps using her friend, or even deceiving her?
And what of the narrator? She nearly married twice, but got cold feet. Staying single, she tells us, was a mistake. But in the final pages, we are shocked to find that she, too, has been disingenuous in her account.
Nothing much happens in this novel about identity, friendship, and families, yet I felt subsumed into the world Madden has created from the first page. I loved her insights into the theatrical life.
This book should be read slowly, with every word savoured. Madden has an extraordinary insight into the way people interact. Her account is both haunting, and enlightening.
Copyright. Sue Leonard. 2008.
Published by Faber and Faber at 12.99 euro.
Reviewed by Sue Leonard.
Published in The Irish Examiner 9th August 2008.
It’s the 21st June, the longest day, when the unnamed narrator of Molly Fox’s Birthday wakes from a dream. She cannot, at first, think where she is. Then she remembers; she is living in her best friend Molly Fox’s Dublin house, while the renowned actress takes a sojourn in New York.
So starts this latest novel from Deirdre Madden; an Orange Prize shortlisted author from the North, who teaches at Trinity College Dublin.
The narrator, a playwright, is trying to start a new play, but she can’t concentrate. So she spends the day ruminating on her past, and remembering the friends who have sustained her along the way. Foremost is Molly. The two met through the play that made them both famous.
The friendship between Molly and the narrator seems uncomplicated at the start of the novel. Both passionate about the theatre, and believing a play ‘wasn’t something that you saw, it was something that happened to you,’ they loved dissecting their roles.
As the day progresses, though, we start to see a darker side to the friendship. As the narrator potters around Dublin, deep in thought, the complexities of Molly’s character are gradually laid bare.
The past leaks into the present in the evening, when Molly’s brother appears, forgetting his sister is away. He is followed by Andrew, the narrator’s best friend from Trinity days; a once troubled student from the North, who has reinvented himself as a TV art historian.
The narrator is dismayed that both visitors fail to look pleased when they find her there. And talking to them, of Molly, we start to doubt what we know about the actress. Is she perhaps using her friend, or even deceiving her?
And what of the narrator? She nearly married twice, but got cold feet. Staying single, she tells us, was a mistake. But in the final pages, we are shocked to find that she, too, has been disingenuous in her account.
Nothing much happens in this novel about identity, friendship, and families, yet I felt subsumed into the world Madden has created from the first page. I loved her insights into the theatrical life.
This book should be read slowly, with every word savoured. Madden has an extraordinary insight into the way people interact. Her account is both haunting, and enlightening.
Copyright. Sue Leonard. 2008.
Life doesn’t stop at 60.
By Sue Leonard.
Published in The Weekend Section of The Irish Examiner. 9th August 2008.
Forty is the new thirty; sixty the new forty; and becoming a pensioner is no longer a time to be feared. Not with Mick Jagger as an example. He’s still rocking at 65.
Today’s pensioners don’t feel old. They enjoy good health and they’re damned if they’re going to slow down. Being over sixty, they reckon, if a time to fulfil new dreams.
Esther Rantzen, 68, of ‘That’s Life’ fame feels so strongly about it that she has written a book. ‘If Not Now, When?’
“It’s my guide on how to grow old disgracefully. And the title is a sort of anthem for me,” she says.
“Earlier in my life I kept putting things off. I’d say I’d do it, ‘in my next life.’ Now I enjoy this life. There are still so many opportunities, so many lovely things to do, and really, there is no excuse to put things off.”
It’s a wonderful guide, with many non-judgemental tips. But the message is, whatever makes you happy, whether its parachute jumping, sex, travel or Botox, just do it!
The former presenter of That’s Life; it ran for 21 years commanding audiences of over 18 million, Esther still has a busy career. Along with TV presenting, she’s an active President of Childline, the Charity she founded; she a trustee of NSPCC and patron of several other charities. What, though, is her dream?
“To become a really good swimmer,” she says. “It annoys me that I can’t put my face under water. I’m going to learn to cook better, and I am going to do some dance exercise.
“I was introduced to dance through competing on ‘Strictly Come Dancing.’ I didn’t last long but it was fun. It is the only form of exercise I can cope with. The rest bore me out of my mind.”
68, she says, is a good age.
“In many ways life is better. One minds ones mistakes less. The downside is being bereaved. I lost Dessie, (her husband Desmond Wilcox,) 8 years ago and I’ve lost my parents.
“In 10 years time I would like to still be doing a wide variety of things, still working, and by that time, swimming properly.”
Esther’s Tip.
“If you want to live to be 100, become a nun. Or maybe a conductor. They’re called Maestro by everyone; they have no stress, and they get exercise by flinging their arms around and standing up. Perhaps you can conduct privately, to your favourite music.”
If Not Now, When, by Esther Rantzen is published by Headline Springboard at 19.99 euro.
At 66, Phil Coulter is busier than ever. When we spoke, he was busy preparing his programme for his appearance at the Boyle Arts Festival.
“Then I’m touring, with the five members of Celtic Thunder. They’re my latest project. We’re touring in Ireland for two weeks, then in America.
“I’ll rehearse with them there, then tour for a week, before handing over to another conductor, musical director. I’ll then come back and do other stuff.
“I turn up for work every day, as I have done for 40 years. It’s what I do. I still have energy and enthusiasm for it. It helps that I’ve had success. That sustains you and gives you motivation. But I work for my success. I give people value for money and give them attention when I’m on stage.”
Recently seen on our screens in Coulter and Company, he is, perhaps, best known for composing, Puppet on a String and Congratulations.
“I’ve had so many highs. There was winning Eurovision at 25, and selling 6 million records; seeing the Bay City Rollers, an invention dreamed up by myself and my partner go to number one in the states; hearing Luke Kelly and the Dubliners singing ‘The Town I love so well,’ in the Albert Hall, and me playing Carnegie Hall for the first time as an artist.
“There was playing in the White House. That, for a boy from a terrace house in Derry was a great thrill. All those were high moments.”
Coulter has no intention of retiring.
“I won’t retire, but on the day I have a concert at The National Concert Hall, and the orchestra outnumber the audience, I will know it is time to quit.”
Phil’s Tip.
“Retirement is fine if you have a plan; if you travel and fulfil ambitions. But if you spend your day reading the paper and going to the shop for a stamp; that’s no life.”
Paddy O’Leary, 73, had planned to accompany his friend, and fellow mountaineer Sé O’Hanlon to India next month. The expedition is climbing a peak there, that Paddy found a way into.
“I just can’t go,” he says.
It’s not that he’s too old; or too unfit. Paddy is simply too busy.
“I’m completing a PhD in History,” he says. “It’s about the Irish in India. I’ve spent a lot of time there. Most of it as a mountaineer. But I toured India on an old Enfield motor bike for six months. I did that when I was around 60.
“I’ve been active all my life. I’ve been on expeditions to India, Nepal, Africa and South America; to Australia and the USA, as well as all around Europe. I made a few ‘first ascents’ of mountains; one of those in 1968, when we climbed Chianapeurto which, at the time, was one of the highest unclimbed mountains in South America.”
Paddy celebrated being 65 by leading an expedition to a new peak in the Himalayas.
“We had to find the peak, explore a way in, and then climb it. On that occasion I didn’t go to the top, because we had to limit the numbers,” he says. “We sent the younger members up.
“I have slowed down,” he says. “But I’ve kept going longer than most people. There was a time, in my forties, when others were pulling out, that I noticed I was not as fit as I had been. But I’m a professional mountaineer, and you accept it. The slowing down is gradual.
“I’m disappointed not to be on Sé’s expedition. I had hoped to go, but I will have to find something else to do. And I will!”
Paddy’s Tip.
“Keep active. You can’t suddenly take up a sport at 65 to show off to your children. Many Middle aged men have died of a heart attack on a mountain.”
Mary O’Callaghan, 65, retired from teaching this year. But she’s busier now, than ever, in business with her daughters.
“I live near Ballinasloe and breed Connemara ponies,” she says. “We’ve over 20 at the moment. We show them. I’m always pushing a barrow and doing the mucking out.”
Grandmother to six, Mary is planning to volunteer in Africa. She was there two years ago with I to I- on a Volunteer Travel trip.
“I’m planning to go back there next year,” she says. “I’d like to go for three months as a volunteer.
“My trip, two years ago was amazing. I went with my daughter, who was 26, a friend, and her children; a son of 16 and daughter of 24. We did some fund raising first, and went out with cases and cases of clothes for the mission work.
“We worked in a mission in Zambia; we worked flat out for 10 days, scrubbing and cleaning a building that had been burnt. And we helped with the children, and helped out in the hospital. It was wonderful to mix with the people, and to get to know them. Sadly, many have died since. HIV Aids is rampant.
“We saw the wildlife too; going overland in a jeep. We did a safari on foot. We went to the Elephant Sands in Botswana, where we were surrounded by elephants. You could never tire of that; of the beauty and the excitement.
“I went white water rafting down the Zambezi, and I don’t swim. I got a huge buzz out of that.”
Mary’s tip.
“Volunteering is a wonderful way to see a country. You mix with the people. You give to them, but you also take from them.” For more information; www.i-to-i.com.
Kevin Cavey, 67, recently had a shot at tow- in surfing on Australia’s Gold Coast. It’s an extreme sport combing jet skiing with surfing, but when RTE suggested Kevin try it for their programme ‘One Thing to do Before you die,’ he simply couldn’t resist.
“I’d hoped to ride a huge wave that way, but on the day the waves were small,” he says. “It was magic though, and has made me think of trying it again. And that’s possible now it’s being done in Ireland.”
Kevin put Ireland on the surfing map.
“I was in my teens when I realised you could ride a small wave Hawaiian Style. I started with long sheets of wood with polystyrene. I’d always be alone.
“I worked for my dad’s hotel in Bray. In the afternoons I’d grab a wave on the East Coast. I surfed winter and summer, in a wet suit I bought from a friend.”
In 1965, Kevin formed Ireland’s first surfing club; and he was later the first President of The Irish Surfing Association. He’s surfed in Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, USA and Peru, but his greatest achievement, he says, was in 1967, running Ireland’s first National Championships in Tramore.
“I’d been surfing for Ireland in California, so I knew how these competitions were run,” he says. “80 enthusiastic people turned up.
“Surfing can be dangerous. In 1969 in Sligo when the sea was enormous, I came off my board, and lost it. I was so far out that it took me 45 minutes to get close to land. It was a miracle that I made it.
“I will carry on as long as I am fit enough. Surfing is a cosmic experience. There’s the sea and the wind and gravitation working. You’re wrestling with two forces of nature. How else do you do that?”
Kevin’s Tip.
“Go on a penitential pilgrimage to Lough Derg. I spend three days every two years sleeping for only one night. It gives you a detox and a spiritual uplift. As long as I can do that, I can surf.”
©Sue Leonard. 2008.
By Sue Leonard.
Published in The Weekend Section of The Irish Examiner. 9th August 2008.
Forty is the new thirty; sixty the new forty; and becoming a pensioner is no longer a time to be feared. Not with Mick Jagger as an example. He’s still rocking at 65.
Today’s pensioners don’t feel old. They enjoy good health and they’re damned if they’re going to slow down. Being over sixty, they reckon, if a time to fulfil new dreams.
Esther Rantzen, 68, of ‘That’s Life’ fame feels so strongly about it that she has written a book. ‘If Not Now, When?’
“It’s my guide on how to grow old disgracefully. And the title is a sort of anthem for me,” she says.
“Earlier in my life I kept putting things off. I’d say I’d do it, ‘in my next life.’ Now I enjoy this life. There are still so many opportunities, so many lovely things to do, and really, there is no excuse to put things off.”
It’s a wonderful guide, with many non-judgemental tips. But the message is, whatever makes you happy, whether its parachute jumping, sex, travel or Botox, just do it!
The former presenter of That’s Life; it ran for 21 years commanding audiences of over 18 million, Esther still has a busy career. Along with TV presenting, she’s an active President of Childline, the Charity she founded; she a trustee of NSPCC and patron of several other charities. What, though, is her dream?
“To become a really good swimmer,” she says. “It annoys me that I can’t put my face under water. I’m going to learn to cook better, and I am going to do some dance exercise.
“I was introduced to dance through competing on ‘Strictly Come Dancing.’ I didn’t last long but it was fun. It is the only form of exercise I can cope with. The rest bore me out of my mind.”
68, she says, is a good age.
“In many ways life is better. One minds ones mistakes less. The downside is being bereaved. I lost Dessie, (her husband Desmond Wilcox,) 8 years ago and I’ve lost my parents.
“In 10 years time I would like to still be doing a wide variety of things, still working, and by that time, swimming properly.”
Esther’s Tip.
“If you want to live to be 100, become a nun. Or maybe a conductor. They’re called Maestro by everyone; they have no stress, and they get exercise by flinging their arms around and standing up. Perhaps you can conduct privately, to your favourite music.”
If Not Now, When, by Esther Rantzen is published by Headline Springboard at 19.99 euro.
At 66, Phil Coulter is busier than ever. When we spoke, he was busy preparing his programme for his appearance at the Boyle Arts Festival.
“Then I’m touring, with the five members of Celtic Thunder. They’re my latest project. We’re touring in Ireland for two weeks, then in America.
“I’ll rehearse with them there, then tour for a week, before handing over to another conductor, musical director. I’ll then come back and do other stuff.
“I turn up for work every day, as I have done for 40 years. It’s what I do. I still have energy and enthusiasm for it. It helps that I’ve had success. That sustains you and gives you motivation. But I work for my success. I give people value for money and give them attention when I’m on stage.”
Recently seen on our screens in Coulter and Company, he is, perhaps, best known for composing, Puppet on a String and Congratulations.
“I’ve had so many highs. There was winning Eurovision at 25, and selling 6 million records; seeing the Bay City Rollers, an invention dreamed up by myself and my partner go to number one in the states; hearing Luke Kelly and the Dubliners singing ‘The Town I love so well,’ in the Albert Hall, and me playing Carnegie Hall for the first time as an artist.
“There was playing in the White House. That, for a boy from a terrace house in Derry was a great thrill. All those were high moments.”
Coulter has no intention of retiring.
“I won’t retire, but on the day I have a concert at The National Concert Hall, and the orchestra outnumber the audience, I will know it is time to quit.”
Phil’s Tip.
“Retirement is fine if you have a plan; if you travel and fulfil ambitions. But if you spend your day reading the paper and going to the shop for a stamp; that’s no life.”
Paddy O’Leary, 73, had planned to accompany his friend, and fellow mountaineer Sé O’Hanlon to India next month. The expedition is climbing a peak there, that Paddy found a way into.
“I just can’t go,” he says.
It’s not that he’s too old; or too unfit. Paddy is simply too busy.
“I’m completing a PhD in History,” he says. “It’s about the Irish in India. I’ve spent a lot of time there. Most of it as a mountaineer. But I toured India on an old Enfield motor bike for six months. I did that when I was around 60.
“I’ve been active all my life. I’ve been on expeditions to India, Nepal, Africa and South America; to Australia and the USA, as well as all around Europe. I made a few ‘first ascents’ of mountains; one of those in 1968, when we climbed Chianapeurto which, at the time, was one of the highest unclimbed mountains in South America.”
Paddy celebrated being 65 by leading an expedition to a new peak in the Himalayas.
“We had to find the peak, explore a way in, and then climb it. On that occasion I didn’t go to the top, because we had to limit the numbers,” he says. “We sent the younger members up.
“I have slowed down,” he says. “But I’ve kept going longer than most people. There was a time, in my forties, when others were pulling out, that I noticed I was not as fit as I had been. But I’m a professional mountaineer, and you accept it. The slowing down is gradual.
“I’m disappointed not to be on Sé’s expedition. I had hoped to go, but I will have to find something else to do. And I will!”
Paddy’s Tip.
“Keep active. You can’t suddenly take up a sport at 65 to show off to your children. Many Middle aged men have died of a heart attack on a mountain.”
Mary O’Callaghan, 65, retired from teaching this year. But she’s busier now, than ever, in business with her daughters.
“I live near Ballinasloe and breed Connemara ponies,” she says. “We’ve over 20 at the moment. We show them. I’m always pushing a barrow and doing the mucking out.”
Grandmother to six, Mary is planning to volunteer in Africa. She was there two years ago with I to I- on a Volunteer Travel trip.
“I’m planning to go back there next year,” she says. “I’d like to go for three months as a volunteer.
“My trip, two years ago was amazing. I went with my daughter, who was 26, a friend, and her children; a son of 16 and daughter of 24. We did some fund raising first, and went out with cases and cases of clothes for the mission work.
“We worked in a mission in Zambia; we worked flat out for 10 days, scrubbing and cleaning a building that had been burnt. And we helped with the children, and helped out in the hospital. It was wonderful to mix with the people, and to get to know them. Sadly, many have died since. HIV Aids is rampant.
“We saw the wildlife too; going overland in a jeep. We did a safari on foot. We went to the Elephant Sands in Botswana, where we were surrounded by elephants. You could never tire of that; of the beauty and the excitement.
“I went white water rafting down the Zambezi, and I don’t swim. I got a huge buzz out of that.”
Mary’s tip.
“Volunteering is a wonderful way to see a country. You mix with the people. You give to them, but you also take from them.” For more information; www.i-to-i.com.
Kevin Cavey, 67, recently had a shot at tow- in surfing on Australia’s Gold Coast. It’s an extreme sport combing jet skiing with surfing, but when RTE suggested Kevin try it for their programme ‘One Thing to do Before you die,’ he simply couldn’t resist.
“I’d hoped to ride a huge wave that way, but on the day the waves were small,” he says. “It was magic though, and has made me think of trying it again. And that’s possible now it’s being done in Ireland.”
Kevin put Ireland on the surfing map.
“I was in my teens when I realised you could ride a small wave Hawaiian Style. I started with long sheets of wood with polystyrene. I’d always be alone.
“I worked for my dad’s hotel in Bray. In the afternoons I’d grab a wave on the East Coast. I surfed winter and summer, in a wet suit I bought from a friend.”
In 1965, Kevin formed Ireland’s first surfing club; and he was later the first President of The Irish Surfing Association. He’s surfed in Hawaii, Mexico, Canada, USA and Peru, but his greatest achievement, he says, was in 1967, running Ireland’s first National Championships in Tramore.
“I’d been surfing for Ireland in California, so I knew how these competitions were run,” he says. “80 enthusiastic people turned up.
“Surfing can be dangerous. In 1969 in Sligo when the sea was enormous, I came off my board, and lost it. I was so far out that it took me 45 minutes to get close to land. It was a miracle that I made it.
“I will carry on as long as I am fit enough. Surfing is a cosmic experience. There’s the sea and the wind and gravitation working. You’re wrestling with two forces of nature. How else do you do that?”
Kevin’s Tip.
“Go on a penitential pilgrimage to Lough Derg. I spend three days every two years sleeping for only one night. It gives you a detox and a spiritual uplift. As long as I can do that, I can surf.”
©Sue Leonard. 2008.
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