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More About the Author
Product Description
Product Description
Nicola Barry grew up in well-to-do Murrayfield, Edinburgh. Her father was a hopsital consultant, her mother was medically trained, her brothers boarders at public school. But behind the closed doors of their imposing family home, her mother was drinking herself to death. A beautiful, quirky woman, this is the story of how Monica Barry became a prisoner to alcohol and a prisoner in her own home, her addiction slowly sucking the life out of her. And how - with her father at work, and her brothers away at school - Nicola spent a lot of her childhood as her mother's unofficial carer: hauling her from the bath when she was too drunk to function and running errands to buy her booze.
Full of harrowing incidents, and warmed by a touching, bleak humour, this is the powerful story of how a mother drank herself to death and how alcohol destroyed a family. And of how Nicola battled with her own alcoholism but, determined to throw off her mother's legacy, came through - a survivor.
About the Author
Nicola Barry is a feature writer and columnist, currently with the Sunday Express and Press and Journal. She also worked at the Edinburgh Evening News for five years and the Scotsman. She is a recent graduate of the celebrated MPhil course in Creative Writing at Glasgow University and is currently studying for a PhD in the same field. She has won various press awards, mainly for her writing on social issues and for her columns. She lives with her partner and dog in Edinburgh.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
12 of 12 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Nicola Barry and I have known each other since we were 12 years old, both sent to the same convent boarding school for very different reasons. I thought I knew everything there was to know about my friend, but I was wrong. Nothing prepared me for the myriad amount of emotions I experienced while reading this truly excellent memoir. Despite many school holidays spent with Nicola in Edinburgh, I only witnessed a tiny portion of the hell she went through. Children of alcoholics become very adept at hiding family secrets, and in that respect Nicola was a pro. The opening lines to the first chapter are so strong and gut-wrenching that the reader is hooked right from the beginning. One cannot help but hold your breath as you read, waiting, hoping for some happy event to occur, and thinking to yourself 'just how much can one person take'. The occasional introduction of bleak humour is such a relief, but then you feel guilty laughing! This memoir is a courageous tribute to her parents, but especially her mother. Despite the grief and tragedy this memoir emotes, it ends on a note of hope and forgiveness. I live in the USA and as yet this memoir has not been published over here. It most certainly should be.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Beautifully written with heart and honesty. Amazed that the author is spirited and well adjusted (or at least she comes across that way!) and has not had her whole life ruined by her experience as a child. Wanted to read more about her adult struggle with alcohol and then a later-in-life analysis of the impact of being a child with a drunken mother and father who couldn't cope. Will there be a follow up?
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
First of all, I have to admit I do know Nicola. Or at least I thought I did.
Now that I have read this book, I can see that I had barely scraped the surface ...
That Nicola is the funny, talented, kind and generous soul she is today seems nothing short of a miracle, in light of the tale she tells in "Mother's Ruin". Anyone who has/had an alcoholic in the family will recognise something in this book, as will anyone who has/had a problem with booze themselves.
It should be a bleak read - a mother's neglect, a father's indifference, a childhood blighted. But the sense of humour with which those of us who read Nicola's Press and Journal or Sunday Express columns are familiar is present throughout. That is not to say that she makes light of her appalling situation - she does not - but she is warm and engaging, and leaves you feeling that there is hope. If she can come through all of this, and be successful, loving (and loved), funny and likeable, then so can others in the same terrible situation.
An absolute joy of a read.
Now that I have read this book, I can see that I had barely scraped the surface ...
That Nicola is the funny, talented, kind and generous soul she is today seems nothing short of a miracle, in light of the tale she tells in "Mother's Ruin". Anyone who has/had an alcoholic in the family will recognise something in this book, as will anyone who has/had a problem with booze themselves.
It should be a bleak read - a mother's neglect, a father's indifference, a childhood blighted. But the sense of humour with which those of us who read Nicola's Press and Journal or Sunday Express columns are familiar is present throughout. That is not to say that she makes light of her appalling situation - she does not - but she is warm and engaging, and leaves you feeling that there is hope. If she can come through all of this, and be successful, loving (and loved), funny and likeable, then so can others in the same terrible situation.
An absolute joy of a read.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
GOOD
GOOD READ BUT WAS ALOT ABOUT HER CHILDHOOD,WHICH WAS GOOD BUT I WUD HAVE LIKED TO HEAR MORE ABOUT HOW SHE DEALT WITH LIFE AS A SURVIVER OF ALCOHOLISM IN HER ADULT LIFE AND HAVIN... Read more
Published 4 months ago by LANEY0006
'You never ask how I am or what I have been doing. It is always how...
I must admit that I do find reviewing autobiographical books incredibly difficult (no doubt made more difficult by the fact that it has been almost three years since I last wrote a... Read more
Published 12 months ago by Deanne Dixon
Understated horror
You have a sense of longing to make the little girl's life better. A testament to how much we can love our parents, even when they are neglectful, and self-absorbed. Read more
Published on 11 April 2010 by D. Laurence
Truly inciteful
Never have I read such a true story that really gets into the whole physical and emotional turmoil of alcoholism. Read more
Published on 26 Jun 2009 by Angie,Thompson
Nicola Barrys-Mothers Ruin
Stumbling accross Nicola Barrys book "My Mothers Ruin" I was able to find a life that mirrored my own. Read more
Published on 31 May 2008 by Kathleen A. Barker
Alcoholism isn't a "disease" - it's an addiction
If anyone thinks they are drinking too much alcohol they should read this book - it's enough to keep you in check. Read more
Published on 24 Oct 2007 by J. Kisseih
An Extraordinary Read
A long train journey last week finally afforded me the much needed free time to read "Mother's Ruin", a book that had been recommended to me by a dear friend. Read more
Published on 6 Aug 2007 by Verena Krebs
Surviving Alcohol with a Sense of Humour Intact
If you have ever worried about your own drinking or that of a close relative, reading 'Mother's Ruin'could confirm your darkest fears. Read more
Published on 31 July 2007 by Mary Anderson
Emotional roller-coaster
A friend suggested I read this book, but I was reluctant to pick it up thinking it would be just another "miserable childhood" saga. How wrong I was! Read more
Published on 30 July 2007 by David Craig
Unravelling
Mother's Ruin is a dark, yet intensely warm autobiography about how alcohol became a dark cloud over a little girl's family. Read more
Published on 24 July 2007 by S Cammy
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