The Rat-Pit

by Patrick MacGill

Both a sequel and a parallel to Children of the Dead End, The Rat-Pit (the name of a Glasgow lodging house) tells the tragic tale of Donegal girl Norah Ryan's struggle against poverty at the turn of the century. Forced into a life of vice, this is the moving story of one woman's decline and death. At the same time it is also a much larger story of the oppression, poverty and racism suffered by Irish immigrants to Britain at that time, and of the hypocrisy of a society which used and abused, yet turned away from the dark underbelly it had created.

Genres: Irish Literature, Novels

336 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Patrick MacGill was an Irish journalist, poet and novelist, known as "The Navvy Poet" because he had worked as a navvy before he began writing.

MacGill was born in Glenties, County Donegal. A statue in his honour is on the bridge where the main street crosses the river in Glenties.

During the First World War, MacGill served with the London Irish Rifles (1/18th Battalion, The London Regiment) and was wounded at the Battle of Loos on 28 October 1915.

MacGill wrote a memoir-type novel called Children of the Dead End.

In early 2008, a docu-drama starring Stephen Rea was made about the life of Patrick MacGill. One of the film's locations was the boathouse of Edinburgh Canal Society at Edinburgh on the Union Canal, and one of its rowing boats.

An annual literary summer school is held in Glenties in mid July each year in his honour.

Reviews

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is set in early twentieth century Ireland and Scotland. Famine and poverty run unchecked among the working class. Norah Ryan is an intelligent, beautiful, and God fearing girl. She works hard in the cloth shops and the potato farms to keep her family fed. I expected that she would rise out of poverty due to her several talents. Then she commits the Original Sin with a wealthy farm owner's son. She gets pregnant and he gets out of town. She has the child who becomes ill. She takes to the streets to make enough money for a doctor, food, shelter and heat, but still the child dies. For the rest of her short life, Norah spends grieving.

This author made me to think like Norah, thus the four stars. When she made extra money through hard work or by a deserved gift, I was relieved. We were not destitute, yet. When she committed the Original Sin, I knew she was making a bad choice for us. I understood why she went to the streets. What other choice did we have? Finally, she confessed our sins, and I felt clean again.
Thank you to the author, Patrick McGill, for a good read and for giving me this extraordinary sensation of being Norah Ryan.

[Kirsten · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Ratpit ist eine Pension in Glasgow, in der Frauen für ein paar Pence übernachten können. Dorthin verschlägt es die junge Irin Norah Ryan, als sie auf der Suche nach einer alten Bekannten nach Glasgow kommt.

Norahs Geschichte ist nicht neu. Sie ist ein "gefallenes Mädchen" und um keine Schande über ihre Familie zu bringen, verlässt sie Irland und geht nach Glasgow. Dort hofft sie, bei einer Bekannten aus ihrem Heimatdorf unterzukommen, der ein ähnliches Schicksal widerfahren ist.

Mir war von Anfang an klar, wohin Norahs Geschichte führen würde. Nur sie und ihr Bruder sind von den zehn Kindern ihrer Eltern am Leben geblieben. Ihr Bruder Finn verlässt die Familie und geht nach Schottland, um dort Geld zu verdienen. Norah bleibt zurück. Sie ist die Stütze ihrer Eltern, ein frommes Mädchen das die kleine Familie mit den Einnahmen vom Strümpfestricken über Wasser hält. Aber die Zeiten werden schlechter und so muss auch sie nach Schottland gehen.

Auch wenn die Erzählung die wahre Geschichte von Norah und den Menschen aus ihrem Dorf erzählt, hat sie mich nicht bewegt. Wie schon weiter oben geschrieben, ist sie nicht neu und dazu noch in einem sehr unberührtem Ton geschrieben. An vielen Stellen hätte ich mir dazu mehr Ausführlichkeit gewünscht. Über manche Dinge, die eigentlich wichtig für die Handlung waren, ist der Autor zu schnell gegangen.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I finished the book this afternoon and was surprised at how much I cried at the end. Then I began reading another book, watched an episode of a TV series, did a few other things, but I find that The Rat-Pit keeps coming back to me. The characters - mainly Norah - are vivid in my mind and scenes from the book keep popping into my head.

For a book written in 1914, it is remarkably modern, especially the narrator's voice and comments. The fact that many of the things that happened - such as the village priest demanding money from the starving parishioners to build himself a mansion with one of Ireland's first lavatories - were fetched from real life makes the book more interesting, and its subject-matter was deemed so controversial by the Donegal Library Committee that they decided not to give Donegal readers access to the book until many decades after its publication.

A moving novel that is well worth reading.

[Henry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Caution :Contains spoilers.

Tells the heartbreaking story of Norah Ryan from her childhood in Donegal to her descent into prostitution and early death at age 22 in Glasgow. Macgills hatred of the role played by the Catholic Church in the lives of the Irish poor is powerfully conveyed and supported by the subject matter of this tale.However do not be misled as this is not a political novel but simply a beautifully written story of lost innocence and betrayal which deserves a wider readership. I have long considered Macgill to be one of the greatest (and most unsung)of all Irish writers and urge all who have the chance to read his work. Read,weep and marvel at why you have never heard of Patrick Macgill. Apologies and well done to those who have!