Grand by Noelle McCarthy

Quick-witted, charismatic and generous; angry, vicious and hurt; in pubs all over Cork City, Noelle McCarthy’s mother Carol rages against her life and everything she’s lost. As soon as she can, in the early years of the millennium, Noelle runs away. All the way to New Zealand. Yet, the demons of the past give chase and Noelle seems fated to throw away her future, just like her mother. Somehow, she gets out of the hole and makes a new life. But then Carol gets sick, and finally it’s time to face the past and everything that’s waiting back home. ‘Grand’ is an honest memoir about becoming a modern woman.