Big Girl, Small Town
By Michelle Gallen
Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill
Publication Date: December 1, 2020
Paperback / 320 pages / $16.95
SHORTLISTED FOR THE COSTA FIRST NOVEL AWARD
FINALIST FOR THE IRISH BOOK AWARD FOR NEWCOMER OF THE YEAR
FINALIST FOR THE COMEDY WOMEN IN PRINT PRIZE
Meet Majella O’Neill, a heroine like no other, in this captivating Irish debut that has been called Milkman meets Derry Girls
Majella is happiest out of the spotlight, away from her neighbors’ stares and the gossips of the small town in Northern Ireland where she grew up just after the Troubles. She lives a quiet life caring for her alcoholic mother, working in the local chip shop, watching the regular customers come and go. She wears the same clothes each day (overalls, too small), has the same dinner each night (fish and chips, microwaved at home after her shift ends), and binge-watches old DVDs of the same show (Dallas, best show on TV) from the comfort of her bed.
But underneath Majella’s seemingly ordinary life are the facts that she doesn’t know where her father is and that every person in her town has been changed by the lingering divide between Protestants and Catholics. When Majella’s predictable existence is upended by the death of her granny, she comes to realize there may be more to life than the gossips of Aghybogey, the pub, and the chip shop. In fact, there just may be a whole big world outside her small town.
Told in a highly original voice, with a captivating heroine readers will love and root for, Big Girl, Small Town will appeal to fans of Sally Rooney, Ottessa Moshfegh, and accessible literary fiction with an edge.
“The novel’s vitality resides in Majella’s deadpan observations… and in the acutely replicated dialogue that constitutes much of the narrative… An irreverent portrait of small-town Northern Ireland that is both bleakly and uproariously funny.”
—Kirkus Reviews
"I loved Majella from the first page… Utterly brilliant and deliciously hilarious! With humor, wit and beauty, Gallen subtly unveils a violence and conflict that lies beneath, exploring the legacy of the Troubles and the deeply felt effects through generations."
—Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of Aleppo
"Fans of Milkman rejoice! Through its keen, immersive focus on the seemingly mundane routines of a Northern Irish town just after the Troubles, Big Girl, Small Town illuminates an enigmatic, violent social ecosystem… fierce, raw, unignorable debut."
—Marie-Helene Bertino, author of Parakeet
“Sinead Moriarty's endorsement 'Milkman meets Derry Girls' is as accurate as you'll get. But Big Girl, Small Town is even funnier than Derry Girls, while being just as fraught as Anna Burns's Booker Prize winner.”
—The Irish Independent
MY REVIEW:
Michelle Gallen's debut novel, BIG GIRL SMALL TOWN is a very unique read that will fully captivate the readers for many reasons, and one of which is the character of Majella O'Neill. The detail of the writing as told in the third person perspective is a completely addictive read that transported me right to the 'chipper', a fish-and-chips establishment called A SALT n BATTERED, in the fictional small town of Aghybogey in Northern Ireland circa mid 1990's. Majella, the protagonist, the Big Girl, is a heavy set young woman who lives with her alcoholic and very needy mother. The men in their life, her uncle dies a tragic death, and her beloved "da" have gone missing and is presumed connected to the Troubles.
Majella is our loveable heroine with a few quirks on her own - like her obsession with making lists, and her avoidance of being the talk of the town and center of gossips. You will quickly warm to her, and find yourself interested in the people of the town and to each their own personalities as you come to know them when they stop by the chipper. Much of its townsfolk are unemployed, frequent the pubs, and whose young people struggle as their parents and families are still smothered by the political and economic troubles. Majella is quite different from a lot of them and we see that even through her elaborate list as the chapters are sectioned in precise time and item from her list to keep her life and thoughts straight and away from town gossip.
I found that my reading experience was elevated by listening to the audio book, thank you to @libro.fm as narrated by Nicola Coughlan - the actress from the "Derry Girls". I found that her narration gave voice to Majella and the characters, which was absolutely fantastic.
The story is indeed clever and witty, laden with dark humor, and a certain strangeness that I find in the monotony of Majella's life to be a cozy feeling I really loved in this fabulous read.
Do not miss this one. A great debut and one worthy of literary accomplishments. I highly recommend this fantastic novel.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Born in County Tyrone, Ireland in the mid-1970s, Michelle Gallen grew up during the Troubles, a few miles from the border between what she was told was the “Free” State and the “United” Kingdom. “I was a teenager before I realised how unusual it was to grow up with armed soldiers patrolling your streets and fields,” she explains. “And I attended school in the most bombed small town in Europe after World War Two.” Mining these experiences, Gallen garnered several prestigious awards for young writers by the age of twenty-three, with work published in Irish, UK, and US anthologies and magazines. Now, over twenty years after her early literary success, and as we approach the 100th anniversary of the partition of Ireland, Gallen fully and triumphantly returns to the literary scene with BIG GIRL, SMALL TOWN (Publication Date: December 1, 2020; Trade Paperback Original; $16.95), a hilarious, captivating, and unique debut told through the eyes of a quietly anarchic and boldly original undiagnosed autistic woman. “What a voice,” raved The Guardian in February as part of the UK’s remarkable reception. “A darkly hilarious novel about small-town life, which manages to be wildly entertaining despite being mostly set in a chip shop… A filthy, funny, clever companion.”
Majella is happiest out of the spotlight, away from her neighbors’ stares and the gossips of the small town in Northern Ireland where she grew up during the Troubles. She lives a quiet life caring for her alcoholic mother, working in the local chip shop, and watching the regular customers come and go. She wears the same clothes each day (overalls, too small), has the same dinner each night (fish and chips, microwaved at home after her shift ends), and binge-watches old DVDs of the same show (Dallas, best show on TV) from the comfort of her bed. But underneath Majella’s seemingly ordinary life are the facts that she doesn’t know where her father is and that every person in her town has been changed by the lingering divide between Protestants and Catholics. When Majella’s seemingly mundane existence is upended by the death of her granny, she comes to realize there may be more to life than the gossips of Aghybogey, the pub, and the chip shop. In fact, there just may be a whole big world outside her small town.
“Growing up, our community was under close British military surveillance,” Gallen says. “But despite the media reports and TV programmes exposing murders, collaboration, and cover ups, I felt that the normal experiences of our community were largely invisible. BIG GIRL, SMALL TOWN shines a light on the human consequences of partition, revealing the humour, grief and resilience of a proudly ungovernable tribe stuck on the very edge of Britain and Ireland.” The co-founder of three award-winning companies, recognized internationally for her digital innovation, Gallen lives in Dublin with her husband and children.
Through Majella, a sharp-tongued, hysterically honest, and profoundly sympathetic heroine, BIG GIRL, SMALL TOWN provides a rare, compassionate, and timely insight into a deeply-divided border community. “Fans of Milkman rejoice! Through its keen, immersive focus on the seemingly mundane routines of a Northern Irish town just after the Troubles, BIG GIRL, SMALL TOWN illuminates an enigmatic, violent social ecosystem,” says Marie-Helene Bertino, author of Parakeet. "When have I read a tougher, more tender protagonist for the ages than Majella? She is an apt, heartbreaking guide through this fierce, raw, unignorable debut.”
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