The Young Wan by Brendan O'carroll

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.

Brendan O'Carroll, the international star of the BAFTA-winning TV series Mrs Brown's Boys and Mrs Brown's Boys: d'Movie, has a humble beginning. Brendan O'Carroll was born in Dublin's inner-city in 1955, the youngest of eleven children. Maureen, his mother, was a Labour TD (MP) and a major figure in his life. He dropped out of school at the age of 12 and worked as a waiter while dabbling in a variety of other jobs such as disco manager, milkman, pirate radio disc-jockey, painter-decorator, and so on. For a time, he owned and operated his own bar and cabaret lounge before being convinced to attempt the comedy circuit. Brendan's debut appearance on The Late Late Show, Ireland's longest-running chat show, was a career-defining moment: the studio crowd and viewers adored him. His first video, Live at the Tivoli, debuted at No. 1, dethroning U2 and propelling Garth Brooks to No. 3.

He went on to make best-selling films and a successful record, as well as touring in Ireland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Brendan's radio show Mrs Browne's Boys, written by and starring Brendan, had a phenomenal daily viewership on 2FM and led to the development of Agnes Browne as the lead character in Brendan's first novel. The Mammy was followed by The Chisellers and The Grandmother, both of which were great bestsellers in Ireland, and the film rights were bought up. After reading and loving Brendan's writings, Anjelica Huston made her directorial debut with Agnes Browne. Brendan toured numerous additional stage works with Agnes Browne as the major character before a BBC producer watched the production and thought it had television potential. Mrs Brown's Boys, which began in a sleepy late-night slot but quickly became a great word-of-mouth hit, was quickly promoted to primetime, including multiple Christmas Day specials.

The ongoing popularity of Agnes and her family is secure, having been a major hit in Australia and other places where it has been shown.Brendan continues to compose and perform as Agnes Browne, most recently in Mrs Brown's Boys: d'Movie (2014).

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780452284845
ISBN 10	0452284848
Title	The Young Wan
Author	Brendan O'carroll
Series	Agnes Browne Series
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Penguin Books Ltd
Year published	2004-01-27
Number of pages	224
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.