3.5
The Women Behind the Door
ByPublisher Description
“A showdown between mother and daughter that is about as emotionally painful as it gets.” —Fiona Maazel, The New York Times
A powerful, moving mother-daughter story filled with struggle and redemption by Booker-Prize winning author Roddy Doyle
At sixty-six, Paula Spencer—mother, grandmother, widow, addict, survivor—has finally started to live her life. She has a job at the dry cleaners she enjoys, her boyfriend Joe is a text away when she needs him, and her four children now have the healthy families and petty dramas that Paula could have only hoped for. Despite its ghosts, Paula has started to push her past aside.
That is until her eldest, Nicola, turns up on her doorstep one day. Nicola is everything Paula wasn’t—independent, affluent, a loving wife and mother, a “success”—but now she is suddenly determined to leave it all behind. She has left her family and come to stay. As Nicola gradually confides in Paula the secret that unleashed this moment of crisis, mother and daughter must untangle past memory, trauma, and revelations to confront what they mean to each other—and who they want to be.
A timely and powerful novel of regrets, reparations, and reconciliations, The Women Behind the Door is a delicately devastating portrait of shame and the inescapable shadow it casts over families. Many readers will welcome the chance to reconnect with this strong, singular character whom we have seen in The Woman Who Walked into Doors and Paula Spencer, but all readers will be glad to have Paula in their life now.
A powerful, moving mother-daughter story filled with struggle and redemption by Booker-Prize winning author Roddy Doyle
At sixty-six, Paula Spencer—mother, grandmother, widow, addict, survivor—has finally started to live her life. She has a job at the dry cleaners she enjoys, her boyfriend Joe is a text away when she needs him, and her four children now have the healthy families and petty dramas that Paula could have only hoped for. Despite its ghosts, Paula has started to push her past aside.
That is until her eldest, Nicola, turns up on her doorstep one day. Nicola is everything Paula wasn’t—independent, affluent, a loving wife and mother, a “success”—but now she is suddenly determined to leave it all behind. She has left her family and come to stay. As Nicola gradually confides in Paula the secret that unleashed this moment of crisis, mother and daughter must untangle past memory, trauma, and revelations to confront what they mean to each other—and who they want to be.
A timely and powerful novel of regrets, reparations, and reconciliations, The Women Behind the Door is a delicately devastating portrait of shame and the inescapable shadow it casts over families. Many readers will welcome the chance to reconnect with this strong, singular character whom we have seen in The Woman Who Walked into Doors and Paula Spencer, but all readers will be glad to have Paula in their life now.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communities15 Reviews
3.5
JudyHickey
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“This was my first Roddy Doyle novel and the writing style took a little getting used to but I ended up really liking it. Felt a little scattered at first or maybe more frenetic or frantic?… but leant itself to the story. The relationship between the mother and daughter was very moving and profound and relatable. That’s really what the story is about - a damaged relationship and its regrets and enduring love and care - along with difficult life choices and damaging behaviors… but the enduring love of a mother. Also lots of humor woven in between.
This is a mighty and moving tale that really packs a punch.”
Louise
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emmachayes
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Stephen
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“easy going read and looks at relationships between mother and grown up children and secrets of the past”About Roddy Doyle
Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is the author of eleven acclaimed novels, including The Commitments, The Van (a finalist for the Booker Prize), Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (winner of the Booker Prize), The Woman Who Walked into Doors, A Star Called Henry, Smile, and, most recently, Love. Doyle has also written several collections of stories, as well as Two Pints, Two More Pints, Two for the Road, and several works for children and young adults, including the Rover novels. He lives in Dublin.
Other books by Roddy Doyle
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