The Women Behind the Door

Paula Spencer #3

by Roddy Doyle

Booker-Prize winner Roddy Doyle’s spectacular return to his iconic character, Paula Spencer, whom he originated in the groundbreaking The Woman Who Walked into Doors and its follow-up, Paula Spencer'The undisputed laureate of ordinary lives'SUNDAY TIMES'The best novelist of his generation'NICK HORNBY, author of High FidelityAt sixty-six, Paula Spencer – mother, grandmother, widow, addict, survivor – is finally living her life. A job at the dry cleaners she enjoys, a man – Joe – with whom she shares what she wants, friends who see her for who she is, and four grown children, now with families and petty dramas the likes of which Paula could only have hoped for. Despite its ghosts, Paula has started to push her past aside.That is until Paula’s eldest, Nicola, turns up on her doorstep. Independent, affluent, a loving wife and mother, “a success” – Nicola is suddenly determined to leave it all behind. Over the next few days, as Nicola gradually confides in Paula the secret that unleashed this moment of crisis, mother and daughter find themselves untangling anecdotes, jokes, memory and revelation to confront the bruised but beautiful symmetry of what each means to the other.The next sequence in the life of Roddy Doyle’s quietly remarkable, ever-memorable Paula Spencer, The Women Behind the Door is a delicately devastating portrait of shame and the inescapable shadow it casts over families.

Genres: Fiction, Ireland, Literary Fiction, Irish Literature, Contemporary, Audiobook, Ebooks

272 pages, Hardcover

First published September 10, 2024

About the author

Roddy Doyle (Irish: Ruaidhrí Ó Dúill) is an Irish novelist, dramatist and screenwriter. Several of his books have been made into successful films, beginning with The Commitments in 1991. He won the Booker Prize in 1993.

Doyle grew up in Kilbarrack, Dublin. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts from University College, Dublin. He spent several years as an English and geography teacher before becoming a full-time writer in 1993.

Reviews

[Kate O'Shea · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5/5

I'd say that this book puts to bed the idea that men shouldn't write women. Roddy Doyle, in his third foray into Paula Spencer's life, nails the way women speak to each other, be they friends, colleagues or daughters.

The story follows Paula, now in her sixties, still sober, living alone and working in a dry cleaners. The book is set around the time of Covid and lockdown with all that entailed in Dublin. Paula is now having to negotiate life without any of her children but just as she feels her life is getting sorted her eldest (now middle-aged) daughter, Nicola, arrives on her doorstep having left her husband and children.

The story itself deals with lots of emotive issues - the family's past with the abusive Charlo; Nicola's mothering of Paula; Paula's need for forgiveness and her desire to get Nicola to allow herself to be looked after; Paula's relationship with her other children and grandchildren plus her new relationship with Joe, her seventy-something boyfriend and Mary, her new best friend.

The conversations between Mary and Paula, and Paula and Nicola are what set this book apart. Roddy Doyle hits the nail on the head with the difficult relationship that Paula has had with Nicola. Most mother-daughter relationships are strained at some point or other but theirs is more fraught than most and Roddy Doyle deals sensitively with it.

Another excellent book. Funny in parts, heartbreaking in others. Highly recommended.

Thankyou very much to Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage for the advance review copy.

[Michael Burke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pre-approved to read and review the new Roddy Doyle novel, “The Women Behind the Door,” I ordered a previous book of his, “The Woman Who Walked Into Doors,” which also features Paula Spencer. As an alcoholic and abused wife, she constantly made excuses for her husband Charlo, masking the abuse with excuses like "I walked into the door." She finally breaks free from this hell when she, as the New York Times said, “...stops being a battered wife when she becomes a protective mother.”

“The Women Behind the Door” picks up thirty years later. Paula is now sixty-six and seems fairly happy with her life. Her greatest joy, that her children are doing well, is suddenly shattered when her oldest daughter, Nicola– the perfect one, the one who was everything Paula was not– shows up at her doorstep, intent on abandoning her husband and family.

The Covid crisis has been going on for a while, and the women use this as a cover story for Nicola to stay separated from her family. Paula begins to see what she never wanted to see before– that her daughter has been far from perfect and bears emotional scars from her childhood. The credit Paula has given herself for tossing Charlo out– she has allowed it to cloud a deep-seeded guilt for failing her children.

“The Charlo damage, the real Charlo pain– it isn’t physical. It never was, once the bones were mended and the bruises faded back behind her skin. The real damage– she can’t face her children, not even in her imagination. They’re like a jury and she’s always guilty– she knows she’s guilty. Nothing will ever make her know or feel any different. He battered the mother out of her. “

In this mother-daughter drama, ghosts from the past refuse to stay restrained in the shadows and these two are compelled to confront what has lain deep within. Doyle examines how they attempt to see the past without illusion, striving to save their bond. It is a story marked by raw, brutal moments, yet interspersed with clever, witty interludes. Highly recommended.

Thank you to Viking Penguin and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Kasa Cotugno · Rating 5 out of 5]

Roddy Doyle has communication down pat. His last book, Love, featured two Dubliners, both men, on a pubcrawl. Here, he shifts to women, adding to a series he began some time ago. Mother Paula and daughter Nicola find themselves in Covid lockdown, and while there are earlier books featuring Paula, this could work as a standalone.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

easy going read looking at relationships between mother and grown up children and secrets of the past

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had never read Roddy Doyle, but after this I'm certainly interested in reading more by him. I like his great insight in his characters, the Irish humor, the (sometimes) difficult subject matter. I had a bit of a problem with the ending though as I felt as if the reader is left hanging. I can only hope that Doyle's next book will tell us all about Nicola.
Thank you Jonathan Cape for the reading copy.

[Jodi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the FINAL book in the 3-book “Paula Spencer” series. I have to say that, though the topic is quite a difficult one, this is the best book series I've ever read or can ever imagine reading. Roddy Doyle is such an amazing author! For him to put himself into the mind of an abused woman is remarkable, especially considering he got it so INCREDIBLY SPOT-ON!! I don't know HOW he got it so right, but he absolutely DID!

IMO, this is the best book of the series as Paula has finally gotten herself “clean and sober”. She’s no longer full of shame—for herself, for her situation, for the things she’s done in the past. She’s now (mostly) able to leave her past in the past. And she’s found independence. She can talk to herself with honesty. And, when necessary, she can speak up for herself! She’s learning to love herself, and to accept love from others! But, OMG, she wasted so much time! Now she’s ready to really embrace the life she has left. And she’s tossed the “Spencer” name out with the trash! She’s now Paula O’Leary, thank you very much!🙋🏻‍♀️

4 “Stay–strong.–Stand–up.–Have–a–voice.” stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐

[Margaret McCann · Rating 1 out of 5]

I'm just going to say it.....what the hell was that book about? I have no problem with gender appropriation, I think Doyle writes as a woman really well. I have been a fan of his for decades, I've not enjoyed everything he's written but I think he's kind and alert and funny and his Dublin accent and sense of humour are bang on. But....what the hell was
that book about? I'm a 64 year old Irish woman, so I know a thing or two about
Paula Spencer, and I enjoyed the Covid
vaccination centre, and then I lost my
way. What the hell happened to Paula?
When did she get so flat? I tired of her
hot press and cups of tea and
satsumas, I didn't believe her friendships with coarse women, I didn't understand her relationship with Joe, and I have no
idea what was happening with any of
her kids. Including Nicola with whom I
was completely bored. I didn't know or
care about any of them. What the hell
happened to Roddy Doyle?

And, were it not for his bestselling name and the previous Paula books, this book would surely have never been published. It is about as good as a glass of flat red lemonade. Which, as Paula would have known, is not a good thing. No pace, no colour, no joy, no story......what the hell?

[Rita Egan · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Woman Being the Door
By Roddy Doyle

I was a huge fan in the late 80s when Doyle first held up a big mirror and made all us Dubs laugh at ourselves, but at some point I grew bored with the schtick and stopped reading him.

I wish I had read the Paula Spencer series from the beginning because, although I never felt lost in this story, I never quite felt any connection to Paula and didn't actually find the humour funny.

There are themes of mother daughter relationships, domestic and sexual abuse, addiction and living on the bread line that get bogged down by the exhaustive details that litter the text, unnecessary pages upon pages of cleaning of lap trays, opening nets of satsumas, to have or not have tea along with step by step instructions of how to make the tea. It's like Mr Doyle was so fixated on word count that he included any improbable notion that entered his own head.

This was a miss for me.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for the eGalley, these are my honest opinions

Publishes 12th September 2024

[Janelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful read about a complicated mother and daughter relationship during COVID. Paula was an alcoholic and battered wife. Nicola is her perfect daughter who often looked after her mother. (I must read the the original book The Woman Who Walked Into Doors). Now Nicola has turned up at her mothers and doesn’t want to return to her own home.
Well written and hard to put down, I flew through this story. It’s not depressing, there’s lots of humour and the relationships feel real and the characters very human.

[Chrystal · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another book where COVID takes over the plot. Note to authors: please stop writing about it. We went through it. We don't want to read about fictional characters going through it. Enough.

[Joy D · Rating 2 out of 5]

Set in Ireland during COVID lockdown, Paula Spencer is a sixty-six-year-old mother and grandmother. She is a recovering alcoholic who survived spousal abuse and has been getting her life together. Her eldest daughter, Nicola, appears on her doorstep and asks if she can move in. Nicola has always been the reliable and responsible daughter whose life appeared to be going well but has recently started having marital problems. I did not care much for this novel. It reads as one long argument between a woman and her daughter. Nicola accuses Paula of alcohol-induced neglect and not protecting her from childhood abuse. I was not aware before picking up this book that Paula Spencer had been the main character in two previous novels. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had read those first.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Why are we still reading women written by murakami when Roddy Doyle is out here? Don't come at me about reading women written by women - that is obvious - and this is an intentional dig at murakami.
Conversations between Paula and Nicola in this book could have been lifted verbatim from conversations between my mother and I. I love Roddy Doyle forever.

[Molly Ferguson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved The Woman who Walked into doors, and it was nice to revisit Paula as an older person here. I don’t love a Covid storyline, but this one was fine I guess. I enjoyed her exchanges with Mary. Paul’s spends a lot of time in this novel trying to prove that she’s smart and knows things, and that is an interesting carryover from the first book. The last third with Nicola didn’t fully work for me, but overall this was a quick and satisfying visit to Paula’s world in her 60s.

[Daniel Sevitt · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's going on 30 years since we first met Paula Spencer. We've all aged in real time. Revisiting her now, or at least during the pandemic lockdown, she is the sum of all that happened to her. Her dead husband's voice still surfaces occasionally as does her longing, her self-loathing, her hope, and her hopelessness. She is a genuinely tragic heroine, unable to forgive herself, but desperate to teach her daughter how. I wept through most of this even as I laughed and marveled at its earned truths. Men are peripheral characters in Paula's life now. This is about a mother's love - its strengths and its inadequacies. Even as it seems Paula's life is all about pain and generational trauma, she finds grace in the smallest moments transforming this dour, sad, laughter-filled novel into something magical, reaching for beauty.

[Betzally Mendoza · Rating 2 out of 5]

TW: domestic violence, addiction, mental health.

The story about a woman in her sixties, her past and present. She’s a mother of four and a grandmother, she’s a friend and a lover.

As Paula’s character is described, I can’t help but feel numb??? and not in a sympathetic way...

She fights her demons every single day. Struggles with staying sober as a recovering alcoholic while her kids were young…Her ex husband used to beat her to the point of no recognition, many times she’d have to clean up her own blood off the floors and walls….

I mean…this was a hard read. I am all for hard reads and trigger warnings don’t bother me.

BUT….With that said, I would have enjoyed this more if it wasn’t so all over the place. The only word I can think of is messy…..while Doyle tried to write from Paula’s POV it just seemed unorganized, chaotic.. I felt overwhelmed and ultimately I couldn’t connect with Paula and therefore did a fast paced read and started skimming through, which I don’t like to do. But I couldn’t wait for it to be over.

This just wasn’t for me.

[Sammy thebookninja_ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hate to say it, but I really struggled with this one. There's no denying Roddy Doyle's talent—he writes women exceptionally well, and he perfectly captures the strained mother-daughter relationship in this book. The conversations between Nicola and Paula were tactfully and brilliantly written, but, unfortunately, they were too few and far between. Beyond these moments, there was very little movement in the story. I understand what Doyle was aiming for, but it required more patience than I had as a reader. I didn’t realise this was the third novel featuring Paula—perhaps I would have appreciated it more if I had read the previous two.

[Elisabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love Roddy Doyle— but this book just didn’t grab me. Too repetitive, too little movement. I know it’s gotten huge accolades, people saying it’s his best novel— so I’ll just say it’s me, my lack of appreciation for subtlety.

[Lucy Johnston · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent dialogue! The conversations were just written so well. At first, I loved how every little action was described, but towards the end, I was impatient and wanted the action to move faster.

It’s a covid novel, but not in an annoying way.

[Ryan · Rating 4 out of 5]

‘Maybe that was what happened, what was happening - like the air. Your thoughts — the information and opinions and bits of gossip and shite that you accumulated, the things you thought were important — they heated up and rose, like air, convectional currents, through your brain, and the cold thoughts and ideas and images - all the things you'd forgotten about, that had been up there for years, cooling - slid back down and replaced the warm thoughts. That was it, maybe - you never forgot. Your memories aren't memories. They're alive.’

Quietly different beast to 1994’s The Woman Who Walked into Doors - still for me Doyle’s best - to which this is the second sequel after Paula Spencer. Unlike the first book, which was largely monologue, this benefits from a bigger cast, including Paula’s eldest (now menopausal) daughter.

[Aoife Connaughton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was the first of the series and not the last, oops. Enjoyed the book, and still understood everything even though it was the final of the series. Roddy Doyle’s dialogue can sometimes take me a while to get used to but overall a good read

[Keeley Burmeister · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first COVID book that did not make me want to claw my eyes out.

However it’s Roddy Doyle so one million trigger warnings.

[Lara MacMahon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this series

[Janet Hutchinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love the portrayal of Paula - content in her life, now that her abusive ex is dead and gone from her life. It’s the simple things - the job she has, hr children , all grown and apparently thriving. Where I struggled is with the dialogue and the back and forth in time. I wasn’t always completely sure where I was, and that made this book more of a challenge than I would have liked.

[Stephen the Bookworm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Following on from The Woman who Walked into Doors- 1996 ! where did the time go?- and Paula Spencer 18 years ago , we return to Paula and her life in 2021-22 during the Covid period.

This novel is full of Roddy Doyle's wit, warmth, pathos and love for one of contemporary literature's most unforgettable characters.
This is another powerful and challenging read; exploring the ongoing challenges within Paula's life as an ex alcoholic and surviving a violent marriage. but this time she is the one giving refuge to her daughter Nicola who leaves her family and 'escapes ' to her mum.

Told over monthly interludes and the ensuing events, Paula's humour and voice reflects upon recent circumstances ; life before lockdown and a new man; going for her vaccination with her close friends; trying to 'make- ends- meets' and the events surrounding Nicola.

In many senses this feels like a play- ( The Woman Who Walked into Doors did make the stage ) the voice of Paula conveys life to the reader/audience in all its raw power.

This is not an easy read- the legacy of covid and its impact is still raw with many and the fractious relationship between. other and daughter is difficult - but if you've read the previous novels then this is highly recommended

[Michelle · Rating 3 out of 5]

The woman behind the door is the first book by Booker prize winner Roddy Doyle. So, I am grateful for a copy and couldn’t wait to read it.
Paula Spenser is in her sixties, sober and living on her own. She is trying to cope with living through covid and Lockdown. But she is strong after living through a relationship with a abusive husband. Her children are all flown the next, but she gets a knock on the door by Her daughter Nicola who has left her husband with her children.
When I started reading this book for me personally, I found something missing, and the story didn’t add up for me. I couldn’t connect to the story But after reading other people’s reviews, I understand that this is the third book involving Paula. Had I read the previous two other books I have more understanding of this novel. Don’t get me wrong this book is a book full of emotion and another gred read from the talented writer. It just didn’t work for me as I hoped it would. 3 stars from me.

[jolovesbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Woman Who Walked Into Doors was one of my set texts at college and it had a big impact on me. Years later I read the second book in the series, Paula Spencer. (Both in my pre Goodreads days.) I was interested to see how Paula was faring in this third book, but this was the one I connected with the least.

I was restless during part one and didn't feel pulled back to it in between reads. It felt like being inside Paula's head and often read like a steam of disorganised thoughts that jump back and forth. There was repetition of thoughts too.

The second part was better, especially when we get into the conversations between Paula and her daughter, Nicola. Had part two been a standalone novella, I think would've enjoyed it a lot more overall.

The really powerful thing about the book is seeing the lasting impact that domestic violence and Paula's alcoholism have had, both on Paula and her children.


" - I think, she said. - I think I thought - that everything that happened then happened to me. Happened to me, just. Only to me."

[Mary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I do like this author. However, I found this book almost unreadable. I skimmed the last quarter of the book. Too disjointed. I see what Doyle was doing, but it was just too chaotic for me. Perhaps that was the point.

[Beth · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had I known this was a "Covid novel," I don't think I'd have picked it up. Too many of those I read feel like writing exercises rather than fully fleshed out novels: a lot of stream of consciousness musing on fever dreams, the quiet, the emptiness.... I loved both THE WOMAN WHO WALKED INTO DOORS and PAULA SPENCER, but this just meandered and came to absolutely no conclusion (I skipped to the end from about 1/3 through). I didn't appreciate being whip-sawed between "I hate her. I love her. She's a bitch. She's the reason I'm alive." That said, I did laugh out loud at Paula and her friend Mary's conversations. Doyle writes Dublin dialogue like nobody else.

[Cara Norris · Rating 1 out of 5]

I hated this book. I can appreciate the premise and empathize with the characters but I did not like the writing style, the tedious details, and I couldn't stand the characters, especially Paula.
To be fair, I'm not saying it's a poorly written book. It just absolutely was not for me.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Woman Behind the Door (2024) - Roddy Doyle's latest novel and the third book to feature one Paula Spencer.

This time around Paula is 66 years old with middle-aged children and in quite a different place than we left her in Doyle's previous installment 'Paula Spencer' (2006).

'The Woman Behind the Door' starts around the time of COVID-19 and more specifically the first lockdown to be announced in Ireland - challenging, troubling and memorable times indeed.

Doyle's book is split into two distinct parts and not wanting to say more or give too much away, the book starts out deceptively light-heartedly, only for the story to take quite a turn, becoming more hard hitting and increasingly intense...like a velvet gloved fist, the ghost of Charlo somewhat omni present and never far away, casting a long and dark shadow, the very embodiment of the spectre of domestic abuse.

'The Woman Behind the Door' is so well written, compelling, driving, powerful and thought-provoking, the characters are well drawn and entirely believable - feeling like a true legacy of all that's gone before in the life of Paula Spencer, it's a book that feels entirely authentic.

This third book to feature Paula Spencer is definitely up to it's predecessors, it almost feels like the strongest of the three, but without a re-read of both it's hard to say.

Excellent.