Mary McCann was born in the 1920s into the harsh and deprived countryside life of Northern Ireland. Growing up, she took care of her siblings, wearing clothes that her mother made out of flour sacks. School life was harsh and illness and deprivation were constant threats. Mary adored her hard-working father but felt distant from her mother, with whom she nursed neighbours through diseases that swept through the community. Mary endured many trials and tribulations in her large family before she found her way to London, England and the start of a new life. She had a family of her own but members of the family back home followed her, not always happily. This is a story that will make you laugh and cry -- an important historical account of life in Northern Ireland at the beginning of the twentieth century.
Mary McCann was born in Northern Ireland in the 1920's the third child in a large, poor, rural Irish family. Her journey was hard, often disappointing and above all challenging. As a young woman she moved to North London, married and later moved to Bournemouth. She died in 2006. This is her story.
"I was charmed by the gentle flow and the detail of how life was back then. There are not the cliff hangers of a fictional book because this is the story of someones actual life! The description of the process the writer's mother used to make clothes out of potato sacks was so interesting and the fact that they went to school in shoes only in the winter months. If you are looking for a whodunnit or saucy romp then this will not be for you, but if people's actual lives interest you then you will love this interesting account of life lived in Ireland and England back in the day. Highly recommend. -- paddypaws, Amazon UK
"An incredible insight into Northern Irish life in the early 20th Century, Mary Mccann's book describes communities before cars, electricity and the expectations we know of today. From the traditional Irish ceilidhs of rural villages and growth of the IRA, to poverty and illness, this rich depiction of Mary Mccann's experiences is one that will inspire and inform - shedding a light on a time that is no less relevant now as it was then." -- James Stewart, Constant Star review
