Working Class Heroines: The Extraordinary Women of Dublin's Tenements

by Kevin C. Kearns

In Working Class Heroines acclaimed historian Kevin C. Kearns brings us the voices of the forgotten women of Dublin's tenements. If it weren't for his work the lives of these everyday heroines would be lost forever. Based on 30 years of research spent interviewing and recording the life stories of the working-class women of Dublin, it covers the squalid tenement days of the early 1900s, through the mid-century decades of 'slumland' block flats, and into the 1970s when deadly drugs infiltrated poor neighbourhoods, terrifying mothers and stealing away their children. What emerges is an intimate and poignant celebration of the mammies and grannies who held the fabric of family life in an environment of hardship and, often, cruelty.Through vivid tales of how they coped with grinding poverty, huge families, pitiless landlords, the oppressive Church, dictatorial priests, feckless and often abusive husbands, these remarkable women shine with astonishing dignity, wit, pride and a resilient spirit, despite their struggles.Working Class Heroines gives voice and pays tribute to the long silent, unsung heroines who were the indispensable caretakers of both family and community, and remains one of the most important Irish feminist documents of our times."The ordinary woman has long been absent from our national narrative. I think we should be grateful that Working Class Heroines exists, and we can benefit now from listening to these voices.' Ellen Coyne, The Sunday Times

419 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 7, 2006

Reviews

[Stephen Byrne · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've read nearly all the books by Kevin C. Kearns, for research and pleasure. Really enjoyable and fantastic to read the captured voices of the Irish especially old Dublin people. This is one of my favourite.

[Alison Cassidy · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic look into the role of the Mammy in inner-city Dublin. I read this on a flight back to Dublin at the New Year, not knowing that my own mother was dying. The stories of loss at the end of the book are heartbreaking.