The Young WAN by Brendan O'carroll
Before she was a Mammy, before she had Chisellers, and before they made her a Granny, Agnes Browne was Agnes Reddin, a young girl-or a Young Wan- growing up in the Jarro in Dublin.Brendan O'Carroll takes readers back to the heart of working-class Dublin, this time in the 1940s. Together with her soon to be lifelong best friend Marion Delany, young Agnes manages to survive the indignities and demands of Catholic school, the unwanted births of siblings, days spent in the factories and markets, and nights in the dance hall as rock-and-roll invades Dublin.
But on the eve of her wedding night, the Jarro is alive with gossip--will Agnes be turned away at the altar? For the whole parish knows Agnes's not-so-well-kept secret. And with a mother falling further into dementia, and a younger sister turning to a life of crime, it's up to Agnes alone to keep her splintering family together, while trying to create one of her own.
Filled with O'Carroll's trademark wicked wit and loving, larger-than-life characters, The Young Wan shows the hardscrabble beginnings of the ultimate Irish mother and family.
The youngest of eleven children, Brendan O'Carroll was born in Dublin's inner-city in 1955. His mother, Maureen, was a Labour TD (MP) and a huge influence on his life. He left school at 12 and worked as a waiter, trying many other occupations in his spare time - disco manager, milkman, pirate radio disc-jockey, painter-decorator etc.
For a time he ran his own bar and cabaret lounge before being persuaded to try the comedy circuit. The gigs were small at first and even included his own version of 'Blind Date', but word soon got around about this original and outrageous funnyman: soon there was standing-room only.
The real turning point in Brendan's career was his first appearance on The Late Late Show, Ireland's longest-running chat show: the studio audience and viewers loved him. His first video Live at the Tivoli went straight to No 1, knocking U2 out of the top slot and pushing Garth Brooks to No 3. In 1994 he was voted Ireland's No 1 Variety Entertainer at the National Entertainment Awards.
He went on to make best-selling videos, and a bestselling record, as well as touring in Ireland, the UK and the USA.
The radio show Mrs Browne's Boys, written by and starring Brendan, had a phenomenal daily audience on 2FM and led to the creation of Agnes Browne as the central character in Brendan's first novel, The Mammy, published in 1994. The book topped the bestseller charts in Ireland for months and the film rights were snapped up.
The Mammy was followed by The Chisellers and The Granny: all three were huge bestsellers. Holywood came calling when Anjelica Huston read and loved Brendan's books: she made her directorial debut with Agnes Browne.
Brendan toured several other stage shows with Agnes Browne as the central character, before a BBC producer saw the show and felt there was television potential. Initially broadcast in a quiet late evening slot, Mrs Brown's Boys quickly became a huge word-of-mouth hit, and quickly moved to primetime, including several Christmas Day specials. A huge success in Australia and other countries where it has been shown, the enduring appeal of Agnes and her family is secure.
Brendan continues to write and perform as Agnes Browne, most recently in Mrs Brown's Boys: d'Movie (2014)
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780670031146 |
| ISBN 10 | 0670031143 |
| Title | The Young WAN |
| Author | Brendan O'carroll |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Penguin Putnam Inc |
| Year published | 2003-02-10 |
| Number of pages | 208 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |