Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes: A Memoir of Dublin in the 1950s
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Author:
Long, Martha
Series:
Memoirs of Dublin
Published:
Seven Stories Press 2012
Format:
Adobe EPUB eBook, Kindle Book, OverDrive Read
ISBN:
9781609804152
Status:
Available from OverDrive
Description
"Not for the faint of heart, Long's story is a gritty, grueling, and heartbreaking testament to one girl's unbreakable spirit."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
When Martha Long's feckless mother hooks up with the Jackser ("that bandy aul bastard"), and starts having more babies, the abuse and poverty in the house grow more acute. Martha is regularly sent out to beg and more often steal, and her wiles (as a child of 7, 8) are often the only thing keeping food on the table. Jackser is a master of paranoid anger and outburst, keeping the children in an unheated tenement, unable to go to school, at the ready for his unpredictable rages. Then Martha is sent by Jackser to a man he knows in exchange for the price of a few cigarettes. She is nine. She is filthy, lice-ridden, outcast. Martha and Ma escape to England, but for an itinerant Irishwoman finding work in late 1950s England is a near impossibility. Martha treasures the time alone with her mother, but amazingly Ma pines for Jackser and they eventually return to Dublin and the other children. And yet there are prized cartoon magazines, the occasional hidden penny to buy the children sweets, the glimpse of loving family life in other houses, and Martha's hope that she will soon be old enough to make her own way.
Virtually uneducated, Martha Long is natural-born storyteller. Written in the vernacular of the day, the reader is tempted to speak like Martha for the rest of a day (and don't let me hear yer woman roarin' bout it neither). One can't help but cheer on this mischievous, quick-witted, and persistent little girl who has captured hearts across Europe.
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Subjects
Subjects
Biography & Autobiography
History
Sociology
Nonfiction
More Details
Street Date:
11/13/2012
Language:
English
ASIN:
B007JCD84C
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Citations
APA Citation (style guide)

Martha Long. (2012). Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes: A Memoir of Dublin in the 1950s. Seven Stories Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation (style guide)

Martha Long. 2012. Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes: A Memoir of Dublin in the 1950s. Seven Stories Press.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities Citation (style guide)

Martha Long, Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes: A Memoir of Dublin in the 1950s. Seven Stories Press, 2012.

MLA Citation (style guide)

Martha Long. Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes: A Memoir of Dublin in the 1950s. Seven Stories Press, 2012.

Note! Citation formats are based on standards as of July 2022. Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy.
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Date Added:
Apr 17, 2013 09:03:52
Date Updated:
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      • bioText: MARTHA LONG was born in the 1950s in Dublin, where she lives to this day. She is the author of the eight-part “Ma” series of memoirs, which have been best-sellers in the UK and Ireland. In 2014 Long published her first novel, Run, Lily, Run. A self-proclaimed “middle-aged matron,” she has successfully reared three children.
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Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes
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"Not for the faint of heart, Long's story is a gritty, grueling, and heartbreaking testament to one girl's unbreakable spirit."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
When Martha Long's feckless mother hooks up with the Jackser ("that bandy aul bastard"), and starts having more babies, the abuse and poverty in the house grow more acute. Martha is regularly sent out to beg and more often steal, and her wiles (as a child of 7, 8) are often the only thing keeping food on the table. Jackser is a master of paranoid anger and outburst, keeping the children in an unheated tenement, unable to go to school, at the ready for his unpredictable rages. Then Martha is sent by Jackser to a man he knows in exchange for the price of a few cigarettes. She is nine. She is filthy, lice-ridden, outcast. Martha and Ma escape to England, but for an itinerant Irishwoman finding work in late 1950s England is a near impossibility. Martha treasures the time alone with her mother, but amazingly Ma pines for Jackser and they eventually return to Dublin and the other children. And yet there are prized cartoon magazines, the occasional hidden penny to buy the children sweets, the glimpse of loving family life in other houses, and Martha's hope that she will soon be old enough to make her own way.
Virtually uneducated, Martha Long is natural-born storyteller. Written in the vernacular of the day, the reader is tempted to speak like Martha for the rest of a day (and don't let me hear yer woman roarin' bout it neither). One can't help but cheer on this mischievous, quick-witted, and persistent little girl who has captured hearts across Europe.
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"Not for the faint of heart, Long's story is a gritty, grueling, and heartbreaking testament to one girl's unbreakable spirit."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
When Martha Long's feckless mother hooks up with the Jackser ("that bandy aul bastard"), and starts having more babies, the abuse and poverty in the house grow more acute. Martha is regularly sent out to beg and more often steal, and her wiles (as a child of 7, 8) are often the only thing keeping food on the table. Jackser is a master of paranoid anger and outburst, keeping the children in an unheated tenement, unable to go to school, at the ready for his unpredictable rages. Then Martha is sent by Jackser to a man he knows in exchange for the price of a few cigarettes. She is nine. She is filthy, lice-ridden, outcast. Martha and Ma escape to England, but for an itinerant Irishwoman finding work in late 1950s England is a near impossibility. Martha treasures the time...
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