Books & Poetry

In his 1996 novel, ‘The Woman Who Walked Into Doors’, Roddy Doyle created one of his most engaging characters: Dubliner Paula Spencer, alcoholic but resilient wife of abusive husband Charlo. In ‘Paula Spencer’ we meet her again. It’s been several years since Paula threw Charlo out and four months, five days since she had her last drink.

Time has marched on while Paula was deep in her cups. Her struggles to come to terms with not only the lives of her four grown-up children – Nicola, John Paul, Leanne and Jack – but her place in an Ireland far removed from the memories and aspirations of her youth form the crux of the novel. The expensive gifts she receives from her married daughter Nicola make her alternately proud of her achievements and angry that she rubs her nose in it. She feels hot with guilt when she thinks about the sort of childhood her teenager, Jack, experienced thanks to her alcoholism. Meanwhile, her sister is planning to buy a second property in Bulgaria, while the only job she, Paula, has is as an office cleaner.

Despite all she’s been through, Paula still knows how to have a laugh. She’s acerbic without being bitter and it’s this, combined with her drive to survive, that makes her so loveable. Flipping back and forth between her recollections and the present, Doyle takes us to the heart of the ongoing struggle that defines the world of the recovering alcoholic. We hold our breath, willing Paula not to fall off the wagon.

Carefully unsentimental yet resoundingly uplifting, ‘Paula Spencer’ is a minutely observed masterpiece not to be missed.