"James Stephen's enchanting novel of growing up, of moving from childhood innocence to adult experience, set against the background of the Dublin slums. Rich in delicate imagery and social observation, full of wonder and excitement, it creates a magical world which nevertheless mirrors human reality in all its diversity."





Number 751 on the 2006 list of "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die"

Number 246 on the 2008 list of "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die"




Received from Vasha, along with eight other books, for winning her Box Of Oddities RABCK

I finished this last night. It's a short, easy read, but very enjoyable. I wish the author had written a sequel like he had planned; I wanted to keep reading and find out more about Mary and her mother. A great book!

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed to Haugtussa in Norway to continue cat02886's surprise bookring

What a surprise! I had forgotten all about this bookring, and since nobody had asked for my address - well, you made my day pzarks!

The cool thing was that a friend of mine walked me to the mailbox, she was really impressed when I recieved a parcel with two books. A parcel that I knew nothing about! I'll try to recruit her as a bookcrosser...

I finished the book last night, and I was really sad as I wanted to continue to read about Mary and her mother. What a great surname - Makebelieve - it suits them both well.

I thought the book had a lot of wise sayings in it - and I'll only quote one:
If the unexpected did not happen life would be a logical, scientific progression which might become dispiritedand repudiate its goal for very boredom, but nature has cunningly diversified the methods whereby she coaxes or coerces us to prosecute, not our own, but her own adventure. (page 122)

Thanks for sharing this book, it will now continue it's travels as a kitten ;-)

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mjau!

Got this just before New Years Eve, but only got around to make a journal entry now.

It was a great surprise to see what this book was - as it is on my wishlist and I picked it without knowing its title.

Thank you so much for sending this to me, Haugtussa. I look forward to reading it.

EDIT January 3rd 2010: This book is now reserved for Deepswamp, when I'm done with it!

I just finished reading this and liked it. It is the story of Mary Makebelieve and her mother and how they dream of a different life. I can see why it has made it to the 1001-list, but it is not among the best books on that list (at least I don't think so).

The book was a bit worn around the edges, so I added a protective cover to make it last longer.

From 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die:
The Poet and novelist James Stephens was born and reared in a Dublin Slum, and started his adult life as a clerk in a solicitor's office. All of his work carries with it an edge of claustrophobia, a haunting sense of loneliness amid overcrowding. But Stephens was in love with the idea of the imagination, and the Dublin of his work is at once a place of confines and of liberation, of small rooms and open streets, of the press of necessity and the beauty of a silk dress glimpsed in a shop window.
The Charwoman's Daughter is the strange, wistful story of sixteen-year-old Mary, the only child of her fiercely protective widowed mother. It is also a story about Dublin and how we see that city. Usually depicted in Irish fiction as a man's town, a place trapped in its history, and home to big, busy conversations and random, unregulated encounters, this Dublin is both domestic and urban.
Mary and her mother live in a one-room tenement flat that is home to rituals of their bitter love. By day her mother cleans the houses of the Dublin rich, while Mary makes observations as she walks through the city. The imaginative richness of ther insights makes the city come alive as a place that is both strange and wonderful, remote yet friendly. It is this sense of dicovery and the bittersweet richness it brings with it that makes this such an unusual but compelling Dublin novel.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book will be in the mail soon on its way to Deepswamp, who wanted to read it!
It came with a beautiful bookmark (a string with green and blue pearls on it)
- this bookmark will continue its journey together with the book!

Thanks a lot! Arrived safe!

A great book, I am happy I got the chans to read it! Thanks!

# 751/1001 2006 års edition
# 756/1001 2008 års edition

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

To a bcmember who read 1001 books.. I don´t think you have read this one.
# 21/2

A really nice surprise, and you are right - I haven't read this (yet)!

A nice tale, beautifully told!

Thanks so much for your donation mariabokmal!

This book is now part of the 1001-library. If you want to take this book from the library but don't know how to proceed, please refer to the 1001-library bookshelf.

Going on my to-read-list.