The Granny: Amazon.co.uk: Brendan O'Carroll: Books

Product Description

The final book in the Agnes Browne trilogy At forty-seven years of age Agnes, now thirteen years happily widowed, enters the 1980s with a fruit stall in Moore Street, a French lover and six children, five of them in their twenties. Becoming a grandmother is a terrible shock to her system, especially as Agnes suffers every one of her daughter-in-law's labour pains! And as the family expands so do the problems -one son's inevitable brush with the law, the heartbreak of emigration. But Agnes Browne is nothing if not a fighter, and she squares her shoulders, offers up a quick one to her departed pal, Marion, and sets about getting things back on an even keel - or as even as things ever get in the Brown household! The same quick-fire dialogue, hilarious humour and great characterisation as in Brendan's bestselling THE MAMMY, filmed as AGNES BROWNE by Angelica Huston, and the BAFTA-nominated TV series Mrs Browne's Boys. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Now author, actor/director/ script-writer, playwright, video star as well as stand-up comic, the Brendan O'Carroll story begins very modestly. The youngest of eleven children, Brendan O'Carroll was born in Dublin's inner-city in 1955. His mother, Maureen was a Labour TD (MP) and a huge influence on his life. He left school at 12 and worked as a waiter, trying many other occupations in his spare time - disco manager, milkman, pirate radio disc-jockey, painter-decorator etc. For a time he ran his own bar and cabaret lounge before being persuaded to try the comedy circuit. The gigs were small at first and even included his own version of 'Blind Date', but word soon got round about this original and outrageous funnyman and then there was standing-room only. The real turning point in Brendan's career was his first appearance on The Late Late Show, Ireland's longest-running chat show, also shown weekly on Channel 4 in the UK. The studio audience and the viewers loved him. His first video Live at the Tivoli went straight to No 1, knocking U2 out of the top slot and pushing Garth Brooks to No 3. In 1994 he was voted Ireland's No 1 Variety Entertainer at the National Entertainment Awards. He went on to make 4 top-selling videos, and a bestselling record, as well as touring in Ireland, the UK and the USA. The radio show Mrs Browne's Boys, written by and starring Brendan, had a phenomenal daily audience on 2FM and led to the creation of Agnes Browne as the central character in Brendan's first novel, The Mammy, published in 1994. The book topped the bestseller charts in Ireland for months and the film rights were snapped up. The Mammy is now also available as a talking book. The sequel to The Mammy, entitled The Chisellers, published in 1995, was also a long-running bestseller, and the final book in the trilogy, The Granny, (1996) went straight to No 1 in the Irish Bestseller list; the first print-run sold out immediately. Meanwhile Brendan wrote a play, The Course, which had a five-month sell-out run in Dublin in 1995/96 and has toured in England (London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool) and Scotland as well as in Canada. Brendan can be seen on the big screen in the film of Roddy Doyle's The Van, in which he plays alongside Colm Meaney of Star Trek and The Snapper fame. His performance has been described by the critics as 'spot-on'. He also hosts a quiz show on RTE - Hot Milk and Pepper. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

Buy them all! 14 Mar 2000

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

I loved them all! I laughed out loud at every other page. Ripping good yarn!

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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful

Completion of the Perfect Trilogy 27 Jan 2003

By taking a rest HALL OF FAME

Mr. Brendan O'Carroll has created with, "The Mammy", "The Chisellers", and, "The Granny", a trilogy that is exceptionally well written, a joy to read, and an alternative Irish Tale. I differentiate this work from the more familiar read about an Irish Family, for while the life of this Family is far from perfect, it is not extreme in its portrayal of the darker sides of people, be they Irish, or in the case of this book, French or Jewish as well. Of the three books this could be noted as the one that brings events together too neatly, especially when a given outcome is positive. I believe this appraisal would be unfair, as the Author balances the experiences of his characters, and even if he had favored the positive, why would that be deserving of scorn?

This book does bring certain threads of the story to a conclusion. The Author could easily continue the stories of this Family, or a given member, but the trilogy; I believe should stand by itself.

Once again the third book takes place when additional time has passed. The Browne Children are children no longer, and with offspring of their own the cycle begins again with the newest of the Browne's. Agnes transitions from Mammy to Granny, as her children take their place as Mammies and Dads to children of there own. Some of the new Families are traditional, some less so, however as in the previous two books while ignorance and the ugly behavior it breeds is not hidden, and overall acceptance and tolerance are great virtues of this man's work.

The three works are as close to faultless storytelling as I have read, and I hope I can look forward to many more books by this Author. He will have a tremendous challenge to repeat this success, but as he has done it three times in succession, waiting for additional novels should not be a wait in vain.

If you come to the end of this book and your eyes are not at least full, see your Doctor. Your tear ducts are clogged.
Mr. O'Carroll my sincere thanks.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

The Granny, The Chisellers, The Mammy 13 Sep 2011

By Clowes

Have become fascinated with the work of Brendan O'Carroll and the ease of which I found his written works on Amazon was wonderful. From finding his book titles and recieving them has taken no time and I am now a big fan of Amazon.