Thank You for the Days

Book excerpt: Deirdre Brady, one of nine children, was the quiet one in an unconventional family. Her older sister, Nuala O'Faolain, was brilliant and rebellious and, as a child, Deirdre accepted that Nuala 'knew everything'. They shared the same chaotic home life, and the same bohemian parents, but their different temperaments and life choices resulted in very different perspectives. Deirdre's marriage into the Brady clan introduced her to another, more typical, Dublin family. In a stable and loving atmosphere, Eamon and she raised seven children. Her inventiveness and creativity within this busy household made family life eventful and joyful. And all the time she was writing. On her sixtieth birthday, her husband surprised her with a slim volume of her evocative sketches which are now published. Thank You for the Days recounts the reflections of this pipe-smoking wife, mother, homemaker, artist, writer and sister - an extraordinary, ordinary woman who has found her own voice and tells her own story with compassion, honesty and wit.