The Granny (Agnes Brown Series #3)

by Brendan O'Carroll

Overview

The New York Times Book Review praised Brendan O'Carroll's first novel, The Mammy, as "Cheerful...as unpretentious and satisfying as a home-cooked meal...with a delicious dessert of an ending." With the forthcoming second book in the trilogy, The Chisellers, and a movie about The Mammy (entitled Agnes Browne) on the horizon, the world is discovering O'Carroll's uniquely Irish blend of warmth and grittiness, comedy and pathos, as he elevates the lives of ordinary working-class Dublin people—and one extraordinary family—into tales that are small in size but epic in emotion. With the final installment, The Granny, our comedic and lovable heroine, Agnes Browne, has a French lover, six children in their twenties—including one in prison—and a wee grandchild of her own. But the world is spinning fast for Agnes—especially considering that her lover wants her to become "a sexual animal" and that her family's far-flung fortune is beyond her control. The members of the Browne family split up to make it in the world on their own until a tragedy brings the brood back together again—and love keeps them that way forever.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101127711
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/01/2000
Series:	Agnes Brown Series , #3
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	269,007
File size:	235 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Brendan O'Carroll, the youngest of eleven children, was born in Stonybatter, a North Dublin neighborhood, in 1955. He is an acclaimed playwright and Ireland's most popular stand-up comedian. The creator of a hugely successful Irish radio show, Mrs. Browne's Boys (the genesis of his novels), O'Carroll is also an actor and has a role in the upcoming film version of Angela's Ashes. All the books in his Mrs. Browne trilogy were #1 bestsellers in his native Ireland. He lives in Dublin, Ireland.

Editorial Reviews

The third and final installment of Irish comic Brendan O'Carroll's celebrated Agnes Browne trilogy finds Agnes outside the maternity ward of Dublin's Rotunda Hospital, where she has just become a "granny" and is feeling old. But with a daughter trapped in a failing marriage, a homesick son in London, another son headed for prison, and a new grandchild on the way, the Browne clan needs its mammy more than ever. And Agnes is more than up to the challenge -- until she's faced with a challenge of her own. Also included in the trilogy are The Mammy -- which has also been published as Agnes Browne, to coincide with the release of the film by the same name -- and The Chisellers.

bn.com

The third installment of the Agnes Browne trilogy, in which O'Carroll (The Mammy, 1999; The Chisellers, p. 205) follows the fortunes and foibles of the Dublin widow and her large brood all the way to Agnes's happy end. Before she reaches that point, however, there's plenty of tribulation along the way, what with a son who lands in jail, another who runs off to England and breaks his mother's heart, a new grandchild to worry about, and the perpetual concerns of keeping body and soul together when you've got six children and no husband to rely on. But Agnes is not without her resources (a French boyfriend and a ready wit not least among them), plus her children are all in their 20s and (more or less) able to look after themselves now. O'Carroll is a popular stand-up comic, and he writes with an easy sense of humor that often becomes dangerously glib ("Sue White began every day in the office like a freshly uncorked bottle of champagne") but is usually winning and likable. If tear-jerkers put you off, however, this will not be your cup of tea.

Kirkus Reviews

Praise for The Mammy
"I think Brendan O'Carroll is Agnes Browne, and if he's not, he's done one hell of a job capturing the absolute essence of a widowed mother in working-class Dublin."—Anjelica Huston

"How to lose weight: Read The Mammy. You will laugh your arse off and your tears will do away with your water-retention problem. It is an uproariously funny account of growing up in inner-city Dublin—a laugh-out loud book with a Dickensian twist to it."—Malachy McCourt, author of A Monk Swimming

"Hilarious and irreverent. A must-read."—Gabriel Byrne

Praise for The Chisellers
“A brilliant book.”—Sunday Independent (London)
 
“By turns funny, wise and heartbreaking, this Irish Tales of the City is O'Carroll's second book in his Mrs. Browne trilogy; the first, The Mammy, received high praise after publication in the U.S. last year. Featuring eccentric characters who are charming, irreverent and believable, the story continues in 1973 with Agnes Browne at center stage… This lively novel features a wedding, a funeral and an ending that will melt the hardest heart. Readers will eagerly await the third book in this series.”—Publishers Weekly
 
Praise for The Granny
“O'Carroll is a popular stand-up comic, and he writes with an easy sense of humor… winning and likable.”—Kirkus Reviews
 
"These Dubliners are irresistibly charming... Tales of working-class Irish life now fill bookshelves, but there's space aplenty for O'Carroll's sturdy contribution.”—Publishers Weekly
 
Praise for The Young Wan
"An almost surefire winner… one of those books that demands to be read in one sitting."—The Irish Voice

From the Publisher