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Title: more than a memoir
Review: I tend to avoid sentimental autobiographies of Irish and working class life, so I was interested to see Maura Murphy's book recommended as hard-hitting and realistic account of her experiences of marriage, motherhood and life in England. I wasn't disappointed. We don't often get to hear such voices and we don't often hear older women telling it like it really was for them. Mothers and wives all too often appear as suffering saints in similar accounts. Maura's account of the difficulties of motherhood and of her depression would be a very familiar one to the thousands of women who are on prescribed anti-depressants and tranquillisers and who are still expected not to upset anyone by complaining. There may not always be a neat resolution to life but Maura's determination to tell her story is a tribute to her human spirit - more power to her writing elbow.
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