Ma, It's a Cold Aul Night an I'm Lookin for a Bed: A Memoir of Dublin in the 1960s (Memoirs of Dublin Book 3)

Martha LOng

Seven Stories Press

Ma Ive Got Meself Locked Up in the Mad House

Ma, I've Got Meself Locked Up in the Mad House

Health, Fitness & Dieting

Mental Health

Mainstream

Ma, I've Reached for the Moon an I'm Hittin the Stars

History

Europe

Mainstream Publishing

Biographies & Memoirs

Community & Culture

Ma, Jackser's Dyin Alone

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Then I heard the most beautiful music, an suddenly I was outa me body an flyin. An I wanted te cry inside meself. I wasn't dead any more, I was lifted away, far away. I can do anythin. I can be somebody, I can be beautiful, I can be gentle, I can be rich, I can smell good. The world is waitin fer me. I can be what I want. Then it ended. An I was back in the room. I opened me eyes slowly an took in everythin aroun me. One day I'll be able te stop this. Nobody will keep me down. I'll work hard, an I'll be at the top, cos I don't want anyone lookin down on me.' 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.

Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes

Aged thirteen, Martha is rescued by the courts from the clutches of her evil stepfather, Jackser, and her feckless mother, Sally. After numerous arrests for shoplifting, a judge rules that she is to be sent to a convent school with the instruction that she is to get an education. Her initial relief at escaping the abuse and neglect she suffered at home is, however, short-lived, as she soon realises that there are many forms of cruelty in this life. As she says, 'You can have a full belly, but your heart can be very empty.' Ostracised by the other children for being a 'street kid' and put to back-breaking work by the nuns, she leads a lonely existence, her only joy coming from the books she devours and her mischievous sense of humour. Desperate for love and a little place where she feels she belongs, despite all that she has suffered Martha retains her compassion for others and still continues to hope for a brighter future when she will be free to make her own way in life.

Ma, I'm Gettin Meself a New Mammy

Politics & Government

Martha is now in her thirties. Her daughter has left home and she is lonely and vulnerable. The hard knocks have taken their toll on her health, and as she looks into the years still lying ahead of her, she shakes her head, feeling she hasn't the heart or the strength to go on. As she teeters on the brink of a nervous breakdown, a phone call summons ghosts from the past. She discovers that one of the family is dead and the others need her help. Martha returns and when she comes face to face with the evil, psychotic Jackser, she can no longer suppress the nightmares of her childhood. A suicide attempt sees her admitted to the 'mad house', where a hunger strike takes her even nearer to death. But finally she sees a chink of light at the end of the tunnel. Could love in an unexpected form pull her back from the brink?

Mainstream Publishing Company

Ma, He Sold Me For A Few Cigarettes

Memoirs

In the latest instalment of Martha Long's autobiography, Ma, Now I'm Goin Up in the World, her story continues through her teenage years. At 16, Martha collapses on the streets, suffering from starvation, exposure and absolute exhaustion. She has reached rock bottom and something must give. Otherwise, she may come to an untimely end. After Martha is taken to hospital, Lady Luck smiles kindly on her and she is given the opportunity to get off the streets for ever. Before long, Martha is on the way to leading the normal life she has so long dreamt of. She makes friends, begins to put the misery of her past behind her and even experiences her first taste of love. For her, love is a powerful feeling. She has never experienced real affection before and is now plunged into the complex world of love between a man and a woman. This conflict between childhood and adulthood, with the different emotional needs of both, causes a war of confusion to rage within Martha. She is locked in an intense emotion that consumes her, for this is a forbidden love that can never be requited. After all, Ralph Fitzgerald is a priest, and he will never break his vow of chastity. This love brings heartbreaking consequences and changes the direction of Martha's life for ever...

Ma, Now I'm Goin Up in the World

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Books by Martha LOng