PERHAPS A GIFT VOUCHER FOR MUM?: MOTHER'S DAY
Seamas O'Reilly is a columnist for the Observer and writes about media and politics for the Irish Times, New Statesman, Guts and VICE. He shot to a kind-of prominence with a range of online endeavours including 'Remembering Ireland', a parody of Irish nostalgia sites, which featured entirely invented moments from Irish history. In 2016, he posted a long Twitter thread about the effects Brexit would have on Northern Ireland, which led to his first political writing for the New Statesman. Later on that year, his exasperated reviews of the novels of erstwhile footballer and manager Steve Bruce led to his participation in events with Guardian Football Weekly and various others. His most recent viral sensation was a thread about the time he inadvertently found himself on ketamine while in a room serving drinks to his boss's boss's boss and the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. Seamas lives in Hackney with his family.
I cannot stress enough how much I love this funny, adorable memoir. Not only hilarious, tender, absurd, delightful and charming, but written with such skill as to render it unforgettable. I now can't wait to see the TV series and/or to become Seamas's best friend -- Nina Stibbe, bestselling author of Reasons to be Cheerful Tender, sad and side-splittingly funny, this is the unforgettable story of how a boy with ten siblings and no mother grew into a man. It's a love letter to Northern Ireland and all the children, dogs, priests and struggling parents that live there. I adored it -- Annie MacManus Grotesquely funny -- Sophie Heawood, author of The Hungover Games An almost improbable true story of an Irish man bringing up eleven (yes, eleven) children on his own, after his wife dies. Seamas is the ninth of these half-orphans and he writes about his childhood and grief with such pathos and wit - even the chapter on his father's love of dogs is exquisite. A gorgeous memoir -- Pandora Sykes I enjoyed this immensely. I laughed a lot (often out loud). A heartfelt tribute to an alarmingly large family held together by a quietly heroic father -- Arthur Mathews, co-creator of Father Ted and Toast of London Beautiful and funny and beautiful because it's funny. It's also sad and life affirming and all about loss and border life and quietly heroic fatherhood and chaotically excessive siblinghood and priests and dogs. I loved it -- Patrick Freyne, author of Okay, Let's Do Your Stupid Idea I've been struggling to commit to a book for weeks but I've just read the first few pages of Did Ye Hear Mammy Died and I'M BACK BABY -- Emer McLysaght Did Ye Hear Mammy Died is so funny and wonderfully written, I love it -- Maeve Higgins
