Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes
Dec 2011 · Random House
4.6star
41 reviewsreport
Ebook
480
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About this ebook
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.
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.
Ratings and reviews
4.6
41 reviews
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June 12, 2024
This story of a child living through devastating abuse and poverty in Dublin during the 1950s is packed full of brave and honest narrative, right up to the very last word. There are many, many stories like this, but only Martha Long has the ability to tell her story with such a description. It makes you feel like you are there with her, feeling everything she feels, but powerless to do anything but turn the page.
Kylie Webster
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June 18, 2013
Its an amazing book. I don't get in to reading books much. this is the only book ive read from start to finish and enjoy'd it. It waz heart breaking but so inspiring, I deffinately recommend it.
Tom Lunt
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August 7, 2015
Iv read dozens and dozens of these type of books,but none led me into the in to t.e poverty and abuse and degradation that this book did,excellently written,sad.tragic and funny a must read!
1 person found this review helpful
About the author
Martha Long was born in Dublin in the early 1950s and still lives there today. She has written seven critically acclaimed volumes of autobiography, including the bestselling Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes. Run, Lily, Run is her fiction debut.
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