Barrytown, a mythical working class suburb of Dublin, is a rough place and growing up here you have to be tough to survive.  A sharp wit and a sharp tongue probably help too.  Sharon Rabbitte has all of these as well as an extra-ordinarily wise head on her shoulders.  None of this prevents her from getting into trouble, but it does enable her to cope admirably when she does and so provide Roddy Doyle with a very special central character for his heartfelt book "The Snapper".  Her path to motherhood was not something she chose, but she embraces the opportunity with courage and learning.  Her journey is matched in the book by her dad's uncertain but increasingly caring re-invention of his own pattern of fatherhood.  Their shared story blends harsh reality and compassion into a moving account about life, love and family and keeps you laughing all the way to the end.