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Ma... #1
Ma, He Sold Me for a Few Cigarettes
'Then I heard the most beautiful music, an suddenly I was outa me body an flyin. An I wanted te cry inside meself. I wasn't dead any more, I was lifted away, far away. I can do anythin. I can be somebody, I can be beautiful, I can be gentle, I can be rich, I can smell good. The world is waitin fer me. I can be what I want. Then it ended. An I was back in the room. I opened me eyes slowly an took in everythin aroun me. One day I'll be able te stop this. Nobody will keep me down. I'll work hard, an I'll be at the top, cos I don't want anyone lookin down on me.'
Born a bastard to a teenage mother in the slums of 1950s Dublin, Martha has to be a fighter from the very start.
As her mother moves from man to man, and more children follow, they live hand-to-mouth in squalid, freezing tenements, clothed in rags and forced to beg for food. But just when it seems things can't get any worse, her mother meets Jackser.
Despite her trials, Martha is a child with an irrepressible spirit and a wit beyond her years. She tells the story of her early life without an ounce of self-pity and manages to recreate a lost era in which the shadow of the Catholic Church loomed large and if you didn't work, you didn't eat.
Martha never stops believing she is worth more than the hand she has been dealt, and her remarkable voice will remain with you long after you've finished the last line.
Born a bastard to a teenage mother in the slums of 1950s Dublin, Martha has to be a fighter from the very start.
As her mother moves from man to man, and more children follow, they live hand-to-mouth in squalid, freezing tenements, clothed in rags and forced to beg for food. But just when it seems things can't get any worse, her mother meets Jackser.
Despite her trials, Martha is a child with an irrepressible spirit and a wit beyond her years. She tells the story of her early life without an ounce of self-pity and manages to recreate a lost era in which the shadow of the Catholic Church loomed large and if you didn't work, you didn't eat.
Martha never stops believing she is worth more than the hand she has been dealt, and her remarkable voice will remain with you long after you've finished the last line.
480 pages, Paperback
First published September 6, 2007
160 people are currently reading
2971 people want to read
About the author
Martha Long
21 books107 followersMartha Long was born in Dublin in the early 1950s and still lives there today. She calls herself a ‘middle-aged matron’ and has successfully reared three children. The Bookseller described her as a ‘truly gifted storyteller’ & Alice Walker, author of The Color Purple, compared her to Charles Dickens. Her seventh and final book in the bestselling Ma series will be published by Mainstream Publishing in the UK, Australia and New Zealand in September 2013. Her first book was published in North America by Seven Stories Press in November 2012.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 201 reviews
July 21, 2019
A disturbing look at how this family betrayed its children.
February 6, 2013
I stumbled across this book by accident while searching for something to read to pass the time over my Christmas holiday. I came across a book with a little girl on the cover. The girl looked maybe 5 and was obviously poor judging from the clothes she was wearing and the dirt on her face. I saw only the first part of the title "Ma, He Sold Me For a Few Cigarettes." That was enough to draw me in. Without looking at another thing on the cover, I picked up the book and purchased it, along with a couple of magazines. I knew that I was headed for a boring 5 days staying with my parents for the holidays, and was glad to have some reading material to help make the time go faster.
I started reading the book almost as soon as I got home, eager to find out what this sad little girl on the cover's story was. Early in my reading, I kept picturing this poor girl living in turn of the century Dublin. I was picturing horses and buggies, I hadn't read anything about the book so I didn't know what to expect. I knew the story was the true life story of someone, but I assumed it was written by someone long dead and was re-released or something. Then after several pages, Martha referenced a film that was made in the 1950s. I stopped at that moment and thought, NO WAY. This was taking place in the '50s? No way! I closed the book and saw the obviously printed "A Memoir of Dublin in the 1950s. It was true! This was all happening less than 60 years ago! I was floored!
I devoured the book. I couldn't put it down and was told on more than one occasion throughout my visit to my parents' house that I was being rude and to put that book down and come visit with my family. I couldn't! I explained to my mom about the book and that I had to finish it. She finally gave up bothering me about it. I finished it in three days. I could have finished it in one day but I was continually being disturbed, as I mentioned.
The story is about little Martha, a young girl in Dublin born to a 16 year old unwed mother. As life goes on, her mother meets Jackser, an evil, paranoid man who terrorized Martha and her siblings, subjecting them to violent fits of rage...and Martha to sexual abuse, both by himself and to other men willing to pay him for the "use" of her, hence the title. It is disgusting to see the cruelty and deplorable conditions Martha and her younger siblings are subjected to on a regular basis. This book will leave you desperately searching for something good to happen to this poor child. Some good things do happen to her, but sadly they are few and very far between. Somehow, though, Martha manages still to share this story with some humor in places. She will make you laugh and break your heart at the same time. Martha's story will leave you desperate to know more about what happens to her. Her gift for storytelling is superb, with details so vivid you feel like you're in the disgusting tenement room with her, cheering her on, trying to hold yourself back from beating the life out of Jackser. You can almost smell the filth of the rooms she lived in. Feel the sting of the cold and the pain from the hunger. It is difficult to take in all the horrendous things that happen, but will leave you speechless in the end. This book should be read widely. It brings a new light to the subject of child abuse, opening your eyes to the terrible things that can be done to innocent children.
Long story short, a MUST READ.
I started reading the book almost as soon as I got home, eager to find out what this sad little girl on the cover's story was. Early in my reading, I kept picturing this poor girl living in turn of the century Dublin. I was picturing horses and buggies, I hadn't read anything about the book so I didn't know what to expect. I knew the story was the true life story of someone, but I assumed it was written by someone long dead and was re-released or something. Then after several pages, Martha referenced a film that was made in the 1950s. I stopped at that moment and thought, NO WAY. This was taking place in the '50s? No way! I closed the book and saw the obviously printed "A Memoir of Dublin in the 1950s. It was true! This was all happening less than 60 years ago! I was floored!
I devoured the book. I couldn't put it down and was told on more than one occasion throughout my visit to my parents' house that I was being rude and to put that book down and come visit with my family. I couldn't! I explained to my mom about the book and that I had to finish it. She finally gave up bothering me about it. I finished it in three days. I could have finished it in one day but I was continually being disturbed, as I mentioned.
The story is about little Martha, a young girl in Dublin born to a 16 year old unwed mother. As life goes on, her mother meets Jackser, an evil, paranoid man who terrorized Martha and her siblings, subjecting them to violent fits of rage...and Martha to sexual abuse, both by himself and to other men willing to pay him for the "use" of her, hence the title. It is disgusting to see the cruelty and deplorable conditions Martha and her younger siblings are subjected to on a regular basis. This book will leave you desperately searching for something good to happen to this poor child. Some good things do happen to her, but sadly they are few and very far between. Somehow, though, Martha manages still to share this story with some humor in places. She will make you laugh and break your heart at the same time. Martha's story will leave you desperate to know more about what happens to her. Her gift for storytelling is superb, with details so vivid you feel like you're in the disgusting tenement room with her, cheering her on, trying to hold yourself back from beating the life out of Jackser. You can almost smell the filth of the rooms she lived in. Feel the sting of the cold and the pain from the hunger. It is difficult to take in all the horrendous things that happen, but will leave you speechless in the end. This book should be read widely. It brings a new light to the subject of child abuse, opening your eyes to the terrible things that can be done to innocent children.
Long story short, a MUST READ.
August 12, 2015
This is the first of a seven-volume memoir known as the "Ma" series, depicting life at the poverty level in 1950s Dublin. What makes it startlingly unique is the voice of its author, Martha Long, who succeeds in capturing this landscape from the vantage of her seven year old eye. Open the cover, turn the first few pages and it becomes swiftly evident that we are listening to a child. She's a bright sprite in a gruesome circumstance, recounting her dangerous days in the patois of the Irish poor, uneducated in all but the skill it takes to greet the dawn alive.
Born to an unmarried teenage mother whose family soon turns them out, Martha follows her Mammy onto the streets and a hand-to-mouth existence teeming with violence and abuse. Soon all they have or could carry with them is gone - lost, stolen, sold for a meal - as her mother drifts from man to man, liar to thief to the nadir of broken beasts, Jackser, a dark fist of paranoid perversity they never quite manage to escape.
The ma makes sure I go everywhere wit Jackser an then tell her if he was lookin at women or talkin te his friends about them, or maybe if he was seein one. I always tell her he was doin nothin. I learnt me lesson good an proper when he nearly threw Charlie over the banisters. So I'm not tellin them anythin tha will start a row. I tell them nothin about anythin, and Jackser beats inta me tha I'm never te tell anyone wha happens at home. So I don't answer questions people ask me, like, where'd ye get the black eyes, or, wha's them zig-zag blue marks on yer legs an arms an back? I say nothin.
School, the few days she attends, is a nightmare of Dickensian horror. Hospitalized for a severe infestation of lice, Martha is in awe of the rare moment of kindness and the miraculous nature of a regular meal. Hunger is a constant state in these years, yet with it is relayed the pure sensory pleasure of a sweet, a "sambitch," a bit o' meat, an egg. The joy this child experiences is all the more profoundly felt because it sits astride such catastrophic desperation and despair. In fact, Martha is stoic, stout-hearted and sly throughout these recollections - rarely giving in to the suicidal thoughts she encounters all too early, prior to the age of ten. She's smart, she's funny, and you find yourself needing to be her friend, that friend she's not finding when she's dumped out onto the curb each day with no shoes, no coat, an empty belly and the latest babby her ma has so ambivalently produced. Sadly, the best a friend can do under such literary conditions is act as a faithful witness - which I did and will continue to do.
Consider me hooked. This was amazing.
Born to an unmarried teenage mother whose family soon turns them out, Martha follows her Mammy onto the streets and a hand-to-mouth existence teeming with violence and abuse. Soon all they have or could carry with them is gone - lost, stolen, sold for a meal - as her mother drifts from man to man, liar to thief to the nadir of broken beasts, Jackser, a dark fist of paranoid perversity they never quite manage to escape.
The ma makes sure I go everywhere wit Jackser an then tell her if he was lookin at women or talkin te his friends about them, or maybe if he was seein one. I always tell her he was doin nothin. I learnt me lesson good an proper when he nearly threw Charlie over the banisters. So I'm not tellin them anythin tha will start a row. I tell them nothin about anythin, and Jackser beats inta me tha I'm never te tell anyone wha happens at home. So I don't answer questions people ask me, like, where'd ye get the black eyes, or, wha's them zig-zag blue marks on yer legs an arms an back? I say nothin.
School, the few days she attends, is a nightmare of Dickensian horror. Hospitalized for a severe infestation of lice, Martha is in awe of the rare moment of kindness and the miraculous nature of a regular meal. Hunger is a constant state in these years, yet with it is relayed the pure sensory pleasure of a sweet, a "sambitch," a bit o' meat, an egg. The joy this child experiences is all the more profoundly felt because it sits astride such catastrophic desperation and despair. In fact, Martha is stoic, stout-hearted and sly throughout these recollections - rarely giving in to the suicidal thoughts she encounters all too early, prior to the age of ten. She's smart, she's funny, and you find yourself needing to be her friend, that friend she's not finding when she's dumped out onto the curb each day with no shoes, no coat, an empty belly and the latest babby her ma has so ambivalently produced. Sadly, the best a friend can do under such literary conditions is act as a faithful witness - which I did and will continue to do.
Consider me hooked. This was amazing.
October 19, 2010
I'm lost for words in writing this review...This was a heart stopping memoir that I will never forget. I take my hat off to Martha Long for having the courage to give her inner child a voice. I am inspired to do the same. Thank you Martha for your inspiration and strength.
October 4, 2013
A very disturbing book. Makes me want to appreciate my life, country and family. And would love to give Martha's mom a big slap!
April 10, 2014
As hard as this book was to read, I still couldn't put it down. I can't recommend it highly enough. The author is a survivor, and tells her story masterfully.
Read
February 25, 2016Martha Long retells the story of her horrific childhood in 1950's Dublin, Ireland. The title sums the story up fairly well. Martha's mother appears to have serious emotional problems and allows her husband, Martha's stepfather, to brutalize Martha and her siblings. Although the book was a hard read at times, I kept focusing on the fact that Martha wrote it first as a private journal of her life in order to "rid myself of the voice of the little girl I had once been". The voice of the girl continued to haunt her the more she tried to repress her. It wasn't until years later she had it published and when she did, the voice of the girl was heard and Martha felt cleansed. I was awed by the spirit of that little girl and the fact that she went on to successfully raise three children. The cycle of abuse was broken and the goodness in Martha prevailed. What a wonderful testament to the power of humans to overcome such terrible circumstances.
Martha wrote the text in the voice of herself as a little girl. Parts were at times difficult to read due to the Irish dialect but it became easier to read and I couldn't put it down. I'd recommend it with the warning of language and violence.
Martha wrote the text in the voice of herself as a little girl. Parts were at times difficult to read due to the Irish dialect but it became easier to read and I couldn't put it down. I'd recommend it with the warning of language and violence.
August 18, 2011
This book was tough to get through because of the subject matter. This poor girl goes through the most terrible childhood, and I'm not sure how she was able to stay with her Mom and boyfriend all that time. I wanted to give it a higher rating but it jut dragged on and on. Horrible story after horrible story, and I almost started to become numb to them. I was dying to hear about the years after this book ended. The book was way too long and somehow still left out pertinent information. I googled the author to read about the rest of her life, and she's written 4 more books. I don't think I can devote 5 books' worth to Martha. Someone just tell me what happens to her and her family!
August 27, 2012
I have given this book a 4* rating which should indicate I really liked it,I did find it compelling reading though at times very difficult to read, the trials and tribulations of one so young sits very hard on your mind for a long time afterwards, there is a sequal to this book but as yet I have not even bought it, as I will have to work myself up to reading it... It is hard to say you really enjoyed reading about a young child's misery but it is well worth a read if only to validate that child's painfull existance....
March 26, 2013
What a terribly awful book to read, and one can only imagine how very difficult it was to live this life. The reader comes away with such a huge sense of compassion for Martha Long and everything she endured just to survive her childhood. It's difficult to keep going, to read how she was beaten and starved and deprived of simple things like love and affection, and then to read of the assaults perpetrated upon men both known and strange to her. No person, let alone a child who cannot protect herself, should have to endure what she has had to.
It's interesting that even at a young age, Martha figured out what was wrong with both her mother Sally and her boyfriend Jackser. Jackser was one of these men who could only prove his strength and manhood by taking it out on those weaker than him. And her mother, for whatever reason, couldn't stand to be without a man, even one that beat her so severely that she miscarries. The part I just can't wrap my brain around, however, is how Sally could continue to allow Jackser to mistreat Martha, and to use her simply as a wage-earner. It makes me want to cry to think of Martha's shattered childhood. She says many times that she feels so very old, that she was never a child. And that part stabbed me right in the heart.
I'm hoping my library will purchase the rest of the books in this series so I can see how she makes something of herself as an author.
It's interesting that even at a young age, Martha figured out what was wrong with both her mother Sally and her boyfriend Jackser. Jackser was one of these men who could only prove his strength and manhood by taking it out on those weaker than him. And her mother, for whatever reason, couldn't stand to be without a man, even one that beat her so severely that she miscarries. The part I just can't wrap my brain around, however, is how Sally could continue to allow Jackser to mistreat Martha, and to use her simply as a wage-earner. It makes me want to cry to think of Martha's shattered childhood. She says many times that she feels so very old, that she was never a child. And that part stabbed me right in the heart.
I'm hoping my library will purchase the rest of the books in this series so I can see how she makes something of herself as an author.
October 29, 2013
This book is not your typical Irish misery porn, it is excellently expressed about the most tragic upbringing. Told without pity, this evokes much empathy and this to me is the greatest gift from excellent literature. Martha Long is a remarkable woman and writer.
March 29, 2014
A heartbreaking tale.
It's nearly impossible to imagine that adults could be so cruel. Martha has more pluck and courage than imaginable. From the age of four, she is charged by her derelict mother to care for her younger siblings, raped by her unofficial stepfather and his friends and other men, made to steal to support the family, put in orphanages, left alone sick in hospital, sent alone at age 10 to London from Dublin with no money and no idea of what to do or where to go. She is viciously beaten at any whim, starved for food and affection and praise, not sent to school because she's the primary childminder and breadwinner, dressed in rags and bare feet and freezing in the cold winters. I know the author grew up to have three children and be successful in life. Since this story ends when she's still 11, I'm glad to have that foreknowledge. What a dismal tale, but what extraordinary instincts for survival this young girl had, as well as love for her siblings and, undeservably, her rotten mother. Jackser, the stepfather, only engenders disgust and hatred in the reader, but he gained his will over Martha through unrelenting violence and a fear campaign. Finally, the state comes through to take charge of Martha and provide her an education, safe from the arms of her self-serving stepfather and mother. But I imagine she still worries about the siblings left behind.
It's nearly impossible to imagine that adults could be so cruel. Martha has more pluck and courage than imaginable. From the age of four, she is charged by her derelict mother to care for her younger siblings, raped by her unofficial stepfather and his friends and other men, made to steal to support the family, put in orphanages, left alone sick in hospital, sent alone at age 10 to London from Dublin with no money and no idea of what to do or where to go. She is viciously beaten at any whim, starved for food and affection and praise, not sent to school because she's the primary childminder and breadwinner, dressed in rags and bare feet and freezing in the cold winters. I know the author grew up to have three children and be successful in life. Since this story ends when she's still 11, I'm glad to have that foreknowledge. What a dismal tale, but what extraordinary instincts for survival this young girl had, as well as love for her siblings and, undeservably, her rotten mother. Jackser, the stepfather, only engenders disgust and hatred in the reader, but he gained his will over Martha through unrelenting violence and a fear campaign. Finally, the state comes through to take charge of Martha and provide her an education, safe from the arms of her self-serving stepfather and mother. But I imagine she still worries about the siblings left behind.
December 30, 2013
This book is a shocking, horrifying account of impoverished Martha Long and makes short work of ensuring the reader is truly swept into Martha's tragic world of poverty and abuse.
Whilst an engrossing read, it does dawdle on and could benefit from a large section being cut out of it. I was shocked by each account Martha tells, but unfortunately grew tired of chapter after chapter following the same line: Jakcser abuses Martha, makes her get the messages, Ma looks empty and neglects Martha, she wishes she was dead, resolves to make a better life and then it starts again. Whilst each chapter was engrossing and horrifying, I found myself getting frustrated at the never ending tale of her life. It became more about the quest to see Martha finally placed on a good path and getting a happy ending for her to end her suffering. However I got to the end of the book extremely exhausted and disappointed as there was no ending, regardless of whether it was happy or not. I felt like I trawled through every single day of Martha's life for 6 years to have no closure at the end of the book anyway.
It is a true account of Martha's life but more often than not I failed to understand how one could recall with such accuracy such extensive details about her daily life. I understand her life was harrowing and torturous but I couldn't believe she had that many memories of when she was 6 & 7 years old in such great detail, I barely remember that period of my life. If it was the case that a memoir needed to be interesting and perhaps some parts elaborated on creatively, then it most certainly could have been cut down by approx. 200 pages.
Whilst this book was an engrossing, horrifying tale of Martha's life, I felt I was exhausted reading each chapter as nothing seemed to progress, it was the same thing, page in, page out until the end where there was no conclusion. I have since discovered there are 7 (Yes!) books in the series but I will not be reading them as it seems Martha's aim with her memoir is to milk as much out of it as possible instead of creating a progressive novel in which the reader can acknowledge a conclusion of her struggle.
Give it a read, it is nothing short of engaging and insightful, but be prepared for the extreme length of it and you will gain very little "inspiration" as so widely touted. I came away from this book feeling like Martha was dealt the worst hand in the history of children and she will be permanently destroyed by the actions of her mother and Jackser. There is very little "inspiration" to gain without a formal conclusion to the memoir.
Whilst an engrossing read, it does dawdle on and could benefit from a large section being cut out of it. I was shocked by each account Martha tells, but unfortunately grew tired of chapter after chapter following the same line: Jakcser abuses Martha, makes her get the messages, Ma looks empty and neglects Martha, she wishes she was dead, resolves to make a better life and then it starts again. Whilst each chapter was engrossing and horrifying, I found myself getting frustrated at the never ending tale of her life. It became more about the quest to see Martha finally placed on a good path and getting a happy ending for her to end her suffering. However I got to the end of the book extremely exhausted and disappointed as there was no ending, regardless of whether it was happy or not. I felt like I trawled through every single day of Martha's life for 6 years to have no closure at the end of the book anyway.
It is a true account of Martha's life but more often than not I failed to understand how one could recall with such accuracy such extensive details about her daily life. I understand her life was harrowing and torturous but I couldn't believe she had that many memories of when she was 6 & 7 years old in such great detail, I barely remember that period of my life. If it was the case that a memoir needed to be interesting and perhaps some parts elaborated on creatively, then it most certainly could have been cut down by approx. 200 pages.
Whilst this book was an engrossing, horrifying tale of Martha's life, I felt I was exhausted reading each chapter as nothing seemed to progress, it was the same thing, page in, page out until the end where there was no conclusion. I have since discovered there are 7 (Yes!) books in the series but I will not be reading them as it seems Martha's aim with her memoir is to milk as much out of it as possible instead of creating a progressive novel in which the reader can acknowledge a conclusion of her struggle.
Give it a read, it is nothing short of engaging and insightful, but be prepared for the extreme length of it and you will gain very little "inspiration" as so widely touted. I came away from this book feeling like Martha was dealt the worst hand in the history of children and she will be permanently destroyed by the actions of her mother and Jackser. There is very little "inspiration" to gain without a formal conclusion to the memoir.
August 25, 2025
My goodness… this story is a real heartbreaker. Poor Martha has had the worst time. I’ve read many memoirs about abuse, but this seems another level. This woman’s courage is incredible. I hope Martha has eventually found happiness and safety. But this book will haunt me forever, just how awful the people of this world can be. The unimaginable things a child can go through! 😢
June 17, 2013
This was one of the saddest and most heartbreaking memoirs I have ever read. Martha is a young child growing up in Dublin, Ireland in the 50's. She is beaten and molested by her stepdad while her mother does nothing and just keeps popping out more babies. They also force her to steal to support the entire family which consists of the six children and the parents. Her stepdad also sells Martha to another man so he can get some cigarettes. Through it all though, we see Martha use her brains and courage to deal with any situation that comes her way. She attended school very little but managed to give herself an education. She doesn't put up with anybody looking down on her and I loved her smart mouth when it came to dealing with adults. The book ends with her being sent to a convent and I know what the convents were like in Ireland so I'm ready to read about that in the next book, Ma, I'm Gettin' Meself a New Mammy.
August 4, 2009
I am on the fence weather I liked this one or not. I did not really like her style. I find it very hard to believe just about every man this girl ran into was such a pig! Is there really this many men after children? Why would her mother just ignore things of such deplorable men? I hate how she does not end the story in this very large book. That if you want to know what happened to her you must sit through another long book to find out.The cover says "A heart rending memoir that will both horrify and inspire" That leads you to think it is going to finish the story in my eyes. How does it inspire you if you do not know what happens? This is the reason for only 3 stars. I will have to read part two I guess!
May 24, 2015
What can I say? This is a heart wrenching memoir and sadly I think it's not the only tale of its kind from that era. I applaud Martha for having the courage to write the book which documents her struggle to survive a childhood that is truly horrendous in its various abuses. Told from the perspective of her inner child, the language can be difficult until you get used to it but the story is difficult to put down. I look forward to reading the sequel
August 9, 2015
A very difficult read but well written. The forward by Alice Walker is powerful. "Reading this startling testament to one child's valiant attempts to live until the age of sixteen (four years to go) is a worthy reminder that we can do better as adults if we turn to embrace the children who are suffering, anywhere on earth, who are coming toward us, their numbers are increasing daily, for help."
June 6, 2016
It isn't easy to escape the family you're born into.....
Unless you've got grit like Martha. Martha had within herself the power to change her direction in life. But the family situation she,was born into almost stole away her will to live. "The kid didn't stand a chance" but she managed to break away from the brainwashing inflicted up on her by people who were supposed to love and protect her. I'm sure she had regrets to live with , but what other choice did she have?
Unless you've got grit like Martha. Martha had within herself the power to change her direction in life. But the family situation she,was born into almost stole away her will to live. "The kid didn't stand a chance" but she managed to break away from the brainwashing inflicted up on her by people who were supposed to love and protect her. I'm sure she had regrets to live with , but what other choice did she have?
February 20, 2013
Absolutely the most amazing but sad book, Martha has you laughing 1 minute crying the next. I have had the pleasure of meeting this woman after 6 yrs of reading her story and she still has that unbreakable spirit and still a Dublin woman to the bone no airs or graces. "Life is a bowl of cherries"
September 4, 2008
I ahve only just started this but so far I love it. All I want to do is grab hold of her and give her the biggest cuddle, ok maybe wash her first. This book will move you.
April 24, 2014
Difficult to read due to the content and language, but I had to persevere to find out how Martha fared.
October 31, 2014
Rip my heart out!! I want to hunt this "mother" down!!
A little hard to read because its written in Irish slang and a young child's POV.
A little hard to read because its written in Irish slang and a young child's POV.
November 7, 2025
This is a story of Martha as a child in 1950's Dublin. There's no coincidence that the author shares the same name, as this is an actual memoir of her life. It's a dark, sad and draining tale and simply shocking to think that this happened not that long ago (well, at least for those of us born in the 1950s).
The reader is continually hoping for something better to come for Martha, to escape from her abusive stepfather, to realize she is actually the caregiver for the continually growing family, to be shown even a small modicum of love. I think if I met the author, I'd probably just hug her.
The writing style uses the vernacular of the day and age - you become accustomed to that quickly so don't let it put you off. There are 7 books in the "Ma" series and I'm looking forward to seeing Martha grow and heal (I hope).
The reader is continually hoping for something better to come for Martha, to escape from her abusive stepfather, to realize she is actually the caregiver for the continually growing family, to be shown even a small modicum of love. I think if I met the author, I'd probably just hug her.
The writing style uses the vernacular of the day and age - you become accustomed to that quickly so don't let it put you off. There are 7 books in the "Ma" series and I'm looking forward to seeing Martha grow and heal (I hope).
July 10, 2024
Harrowing true story. I laughed, I cried, I wanted to shake her mother until she saw sense (she doesn't). It would have been improved by more stringent editing but this is definitely worth the read.
August 17, 2020
This Irish memoir by Martha Long begins like Frank McCourt's “Angela's Ashes” with the death of small children as a constant companion. TB, pneumonia, and tragic accidents are all a daily occurrence.
By the age of six, Martha was left to care for her ten month old brother Charlie while her seventeen year-old mother Sally vanished into the night with a long string of boyfriends. Martha lived in hostels, convent-orphanages and sometimes in the street with the mom of the year. By the age of seven, the girl was being beaten by mom's newest boyfriend, Jack. He later fathered Sally's 4th, 5th, 6th children. I needed a scorecard to keep up with all of the rugrats. The woman was a baby factory. Quite a scandal in the deeply Catholic Ireland of the 1950's. “Jaysus Christ” is a term used frequently by the author, along with other Irish inflected gems. The reader may wish to skip a portion about 1/3 of the way in, with its' vivid descriptions of a hospital stay at seven for a lice infested scalp. Ouch! It only gets worse, as Martha's stepfather allows a friend to molest the eight year-old for money while her mother is at a hospital giving birth. Jack also molests her and sends her to other men in order to earn money for his Woodbine cigarettes. Mom is just as bad as she throws a knife at Martha and cuts her arm. The nine year-old calmly walks to the hospital for stitches. Grinding poverty is an understatement for a little girl who begs for food and clothes at a local convent. She learns to shoplift pounds of butter which she later sells for cash to bring home to her wayward parents. At eleven Martha escapes to London with her mother and is raped by two men. My god, this book is a chamber of horrors. The young girl asks, “where is God?” Where indeed. Martha is placed with a British family while mommy dearest looks for a job and shelter. The London street are filled with “no dogs or Irish” signs, leading to Martha's funniest line in the book. "The English don't shit, tha's why they look as if they're in pain all the time." They leave London and head back to the old sod of Dublin for more of the same old, same old. The children are covered with lice and sores and Jack's house is a pigsty. Near the end of the book, Martha meets a saint in the form of a nun who helps clean her up and explains the mystifying blood flowing from the almost twelve year-old girl. Within a sea of bad people, the worst being Jack and Sally, a few truly good people cross paths with our narrator. Ironically, it ends as Martha winds up in a courtroom for the butter heists and is sent by the judge to a convent school until she reaches sixteen. Ms. Long is a gifted storyteller and her first eleven and a half years make for a grueling and unforgettable book.
P.S. Apparently, this is the first of a series of seven books by Martha Long.
By the age of six, Martha was left to care for her ten month old brother Charlie while her seventeen year-old mother Sally vanished into the night with a long string of boyfriends. Martha lived in hostels, convent-orphanages and sometimes in the street with the mom of the year. By the age of seven, the girl was being beaten by mom's newest boyfriend, Jack. He later fathered Sally's 4th, 5th, 6th children. I needed a scorecard to keep up with all of the rugrats. The woman was a baby factory. Quite a scandal in the deeply Catholic Ireland of the 1950's. “Jaysus Christ” is a term used frequently by the author, along with other Irish inflected gems. The reader may wish to skip a portion about 1/3 of the way in, with its' vivid descriptions of a hospital stay at seven for a lice infested scalp. Ouch! It only gets worse, as Martha's stepfather allows a friend to molest the eight year-old for money while her mother is at a hospital giving birth. Jack also molests her and sends her to other men in order to earn money for his Woodbine cigarettes. Mom is just as bad as she throws a knife at Martha and cuts her arm. The nine year-old calmly walks to the hospital for stitches. Grinding poverty is an understatement for a little girl who begs for food and clothes at a local convent. She learns to shoplift pounds of butter which she later sells for cash to bring home to her wayward parents. At eleven Martha escapes to London with her mother and is raped by two men. My god, this book is a chamber of horrors. The young girl asks, “where is God?” Where indeed. Martha is placed with a British family while mommy dearest looks for a job and shelter. The London street are filled with “no dogs or Irish” signs, leading to Martha's funniest line in the book. "The English don't shit, tha's why they look as if they're in pain all the time." They leave London and head back to the old sod of Dublin for more of the same old, same old. The children are covered with lice and sores and Jack's house is a pigsty. Near the end of the book, Martha meets a saint in the form of a nun who helps clean her up and explains the mystifying blood flowing from the almost twelve year-old girl. Within a sea of bad people, the worst being Jack and Sally, a few truly good people cross paths with our narrator. Ironically, it ends as Martha winds up in a courtroom for the butter heists and is sent by the judge to a convent school until she reaches sixteen. Ms. Long is a gifted storyteller and her first eleven and a half years make for a grueling and unforgettable book.
P.S. Apparently, this is the first of a series of seven books by Martha Long.
February 26, 2019
A quick read. Fairly interesting if you have an Irish background.
November 25, 2017
This is a disturbing book. But was hard to not read once I'd started it.
Part way through it seemed to be telling the same story over a second time. Turns out it is, unless Mrs Long has corrected that. Part of the book is simply a copy of another section of the book. It's almost two chapters that are apparently just copied and pasted into a later section as two more chapters, with few if any modifications.
I was so disappointed in the author, I just scanned the rest and finished it quickly. You'd think the editors would have caught this.
Other wise I'd call is very good, but it seems like a lot of cutting corners to finish a writing.
The language is troubling too.
Part way through it seemed to be telling the same story over a second time. Turns out it is, unless Mrs Long has corrected that. Part of the book is simply a copy of another section of the book. It's almost two chapters that are apparently just copied and pasted into a later section as two more chapters, with few if any modifications.
I was so disappointed in the author, I just scanned the rest and finished it quickly. You'd think the editors would have caught this.
Other wise I'd call is very good, but it seems like a lot of cutting corners to finish a writing.
The language is troubling too.
August 10, 2016
I gave this book four stars because once I started reading it, I couldn't put it down. It sucks the reader in with such force that you can't help but continue reading even as you want to stop. It is a horrifying depiction of what true poverty looks like - the kind we aren't familiar with and have almost never experienced in our country (apart from Appalachia anyway). This is not a book for the faint of heart - it's like Frank McCourt's memoirs but written in the dialect of the author's childhood.
February 29, 2016
Still in two minds whether to read the sequel or not but probably will when I see it.
The story is written in the voice of the young Martha, but once you get past the way she talks it is easy to read. It does not go in depth too much over her tragic memories, but you do know what is going on. I found it astounding the way her mother acted and accepted her life and the appalling living conditions, and any thoughts of cleanliness of any scale was not a consideration - how can people live like this? A real eye opener.
The story is written in the voice of the young Martha, but once you get past the way she talks it is easy to read. It does not go in depth too much over her tragic memories, but you do know what is going on. I found it astounding the way her mother acted and accepted her life and the appalling living conditions, and any thoughts of cleanliness of any scale was not a consideration - how can people live like this? A real eye opener.
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