The Woman Who Walked Into Doors - (Paula Spencer Novel) by Roddy Doyle (Paperback)

About the Book

From the Booker Prize-winning author of the New York Times bestseller Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha comes a heartrending and beautifully written novel of a woman emerging from an abusive marriage. "A mixture of spirit and grief . . . a painful and beautiful story, a tale where the sadness and despair are redeemed because they are never denied".--San Francisco Chronicle.

Book Synopsis

"This unflinching novel chronicles a woman's relationship with a violent man in a way that brings fresh insight to the subject . . . engaging and uplifting." --O, The Oprah Magazine

From Roddy Doyle, Booker Prize-winning author of The Women Behind the Door, the heartrending origin story of Paula Spencer, a brave and tenacious housewife

Paula Spencer is a thirty-nine-year-old mother of four, a blue-collar worker, an alcoholic in recovery--or maybe not. Then one day a police officer knocks on her door. From the look on his face, she can tell it's not good news.

His revelation takes Paula back to the past, to her contented childhood, the audacity she learned as a teenager, the exhilaration of her romance with her husband Charlo, and the violent marriage to him that left her powerless. Now, as she struggles to reclaim her dignity from the abuse that left her with scars and a worsening drinking problem, this new revelation threatens to shatter the fragile peace she's built for herself and drag her back down the dark paths she thought she'd left behind.

Capturing both her vulnerability and strength, Roddy Doyle gives Paula a voice that is singular and real, the story of an ordinary woman whose extraordinary character will stay with you long after this novel and into the subsequent books in his trilogy, Paula Spencer and The Women Behind the Door.

Review Quotes

NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Boston Globe, Newsday, Publishers Weekly

"This unflinching novel chronicles a woman's relationship with a violent man in a way that brings fresh insight to the subject . . . engaging and uplifting." --O, The Oprah Magazine

"It is the triumph of this novel that Doyle - entirely without condescension - shows the inner life of this battered housewife to be the same stuff as that of the heroes of the great novels of Europe."- Mary Gordon, New York Times Book Review

"In feeling the pulse of a raw Dublin suburb, Doyle is recording a beat that can be recognised all over the world." ― The Times (London)

"This new novel is Roddy Doyle's best to date. I cannot recall any writer who has better captured the vulnerability and courage of a woman trapped in a loveless marriage." ― Cork Examiner (Ireland)

"Even more mesmerizing than his prize-winning Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha." ― Daily Mail (London)

"Impassioned, dignified and richly humane." ― Independent (London)

"Compulsively readable" ― Financial Times

"Roddy Doyle's unsparing examination of a brutal marriage transcends the boundaries of class and nationhood." -- The Times (London)

About the Author

Roddy Doyle is an internationally bestselling writer. His first three novels--The Commitments, The Snapper, and the 1991 Booker Prize finalist The Van--are known as The Barrytown Trilogy. He is also the author of the novels Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha (1993 Booker Prize winner), The Woman Who Walked into Doors, and A Star Called Henry, and a non-fiction book about his parents, Rory & Ita. Doyle has also written for the stage and the screen: the plays Brownbread, War, Guess Who's Coming for the Dinner, and The Woman Who Walked Into Doors; the film adaptations of The Commitments )as co-writer), The Snapper, and The Van; When Brendan Met Trudy (an original screenplay); the four-part television series Family for the BBC; and the television play Hell for Leather. Roddy Doyle has also written the children's books The Giggler Treatment, Rover Saves Christmas, and The Meanwhile Adventures and contributed to a variety of publications including The New Yorker magazine and several anthologies. He lives in Dublin.