Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes by Martha Long

Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes by Martha Long

Then I heard the most beautiful music, an suddenly I was outa me body an flyin. An I wanted te cry inside meself. I wasn't dead any more, I was lifted away, far away. I can do anythin. I can be somebody, I can be beautiful, I can be gentle, I can be rich, I can smell good. The world is waitin fer me. I can be what I want. Then it ended. An I was back in the room. I opened me eyes slowly an took in everythin aroun me. One day I'll be able te stop this. Nobody will keep me down. I'll work hard, an I'll be at the top, cos I don't want anyone lookin down on me.' Born a bastard to a teenage mother in the slums of 1950s Dublin, Martha has to be a fighter from the very start. As her mother moves from man to man, and more children follow, they live hand-to-mouth in squalid, freezing tenements, clothed in rags and forced to beg for food. But just when it seems things can't get any worse, her mother meets Jackser. Despite her trials, Martha is a child with an irrepressible spirit and a wit beyond her years. She tells the story of her early life without an ounce of self-pity and manages to recreate a lost era in which the shadow of the Catholic Church loomed large and if you didn't work, you didn't eat. Martha never stops believing she is worth more than the hand she has been dealt, and her remarkable voice will remain with you long after you've finished the last line.

Martha Long was born in Dublin in the early 1950s and still lives there today. She calls herself a 'middle-aged matron' and has successfully reared three children.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781845962791
ISBN 10	1845962796
Title	Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes
Author	Martha Long
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Transworld Publishers Ltd
Year published	2007-09-06
Number of pages	480
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.