Big Girl, Small Town
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Big Girl, Small Town
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Narrated by:
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Nicola Coughlan
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Written by:
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Michelle Gallen
About this listen
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARD FOR NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
FINALIST FOR THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT PRIZE
“Darkly hilarious . . . Wildly entertaining.”—The Guardian
Meet Majella O’Neill, a heroine like no other, performed by Nicola Coughlan, star of Derry Girls.
Majella is happiest out of the spotlight, away from her neighbors’ stares and the gossips of the small town in Northern Ireland where she grew up just after the Troubles. She lives a quiet life caring for her alcoholic mother, working in the local chip shop, watching the regular customers come and go. She wears the same clothes each day (overalls, too small), has the same dinner each night (fish and chips, microwaved at home after her shift ends), and binge-watches old DVDs of the same show (Dallas, best show on TV) from the comfort of her bed.
But underneath Majella’s seemingly ordinary life are the facts that she doesn’t know where her father is and that every person in her town has been changed by the lingering divide between Protestants and Catholics. When Majella’s predictable existence is upended by the death of her granny, she comes to realize there may be more to life than the gossips of Aghybogey, the pub, and the chip shop. In fact, there just may be a whole big world outside her small town.
Told in a highly original voice, with a captivating heroine listeners will love and root for, Big Girl, Small Town will appeal to fans of Sally Rooney, Ottessa Moshfegh, and accessible literary fiction with an edge.
©2020 Michelle Gallen (P)2022 Algonquin BooksWhat the critics say
A Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Best Book of 2020
“An immensely lovable debut novel . . . Gallen manages to evoke in us a wave of complex feelings. It’s the kind of magic you’ll feel lucky to find.”—Ron Charles, The Washington Post
“Irish newcomer Michelle Gallen debuts with a hysterically honest and moving portrait of a young girl on the autism spectrum, her irresponsible mother, and the residents of a small Irish village just after the Troubles.”—Parade
“An inventively foulmouthed gem of a novel . . . Majella, our clear-eyed protagonist, is far more than a gifted wisecracker . . . Majella is a welcome addition to the diverse family of protagonists that includes young Christopher Boone in Mark Haddon’s The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Hesketh Lock in Liz Jensen’s The Uninvited, and Keiko in Sayaka Murata’s Convenience Store Woman, all of whom perceive reality through a similar lens . . . In this oddly affecting novel of everyday defeats, [Majella’s] triumph is more thrilling than any army’s victory.”—The Wall Street Journal