Roddy Doyle - The Woman Who Walked into Doors

THE WOMAN WHO WALKED INTO DOORS

Roddy Doyle was born in Dublin in 1958. He is
the author of seven acclaimed novels and Rory &Ita, a memoir of his parents. He won the BookerPrize in 1993 for Paddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha.

ALSO BY RODDY DOYLE

Fiction

The Commitments

The Snapper

The Van

Faddy Clarke Ha Ha Ha

A Star Called Henry

Oh, Play That Thing

Paula Spencer

Non-Fiction

Rory & Ita

Plays

Brownbread

War

Guess Who's Coming for the Dinner

The Woman Who Walked Into Doors

No Messin' With the Monkeys

For Children

The Giggler Treatment

Rover Saves Christmas

The Meanwhile Adventures

'He climbs into a woman's skin so brilliantly that you have to pinch yourself to remember this was written by a man ... Doyle triumphs in The Woman Who Walked Into Doors because he remembers what other male writers have forgotten that his heroine is more than just a woman. Mainly, she is a human being.'
Sunday Express

'Doyle closes Paula's story with admirable delicacy, solving no problems and healing no wounds, but celebrating the wilful tenacity of a life.'
Scotsman

'This is a wonder of a book, full of mercy, but a real stab in the heart, too. Doyle is more than merely important, he's essential, and The Woman Who Walked Into Doors is his best work so far.'
Russell Banks

'Anyone looking for a great novel from a brave, brilliant writer should read this book. Read it, and weep. Read it, and learn something new. Read it, and care.'
Oregonian

'This wonderful novel reaffirms the achievements of Roddy Doyle ... It is hard to imagine any lover either of fiction or of life who could remain untouched by Paula Spencer ... Wonderfully written, with urgency and blazing compassion.'
Cleveland Plain Dealer

'Emma Bovary, Anna Karenina and now that foul-mouthed, lively, immensely endearing survivor: Paula Spencer, Molly Bloom's sadder and wiser younger sister.'
Los Angeles Times

'A stunning depiction of a woman's battered soul told with the indomitable wit and the lilt of Roddy Doyle's extraordinary voice.'
Mary McGarry Morris

'Compelling ... astonishing ... Paula's voice is wonderful... It is this mixture of spirit and grief that makes The Woman Who Walked Into Doors a painful and beautiful story, a tale where the sadness and despair are redeemed because they are never denied.'
San Francisco Chronicle

'Magnificently constructed... What seems to me extraordinary about Doyle's novel is not the awful story it tells ... but the places he travels through Paula's tough, genuine soliloquy...Doyle does a marvellous job. His Paula Spencer is irrefutably alive.'
Boston Sunday Globe

This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author's and publisher's rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.

ISBN 9781407072838

Version 1.0

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Published by Vintage 1998

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Copyright Roddy Doyle, 1996

Roddy Doyle has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

This electronic book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher's prior consent in any form other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

First published in Great Britain in 1996 by
Jonathan Cape

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A CIP catalogue record for this book
is available from the British Library

ISBN: 978-1-4070-7283-8

Version 1.0

THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED TO JACK

The author is grateful for permission to reprint lines from the following:

"Leaving on a Jet Plane" by John Denver 1967 by Cherry Lane Music Inc., administered by Harmony Music Ltd, la Farm Place, London W8 7SX. "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" by Jimmy Webb 1968 by Island Music Ltd. Lyrics reproduced by kind permission of the publisher. "All Shook Up", Words and Music by Otis Blackwell and Elvis Presley, 1957 by Shalimar Music, Inc. all rights administered by Elvis Presley Music, Inc., New York, USA. International Copyright Secured. All rights reserved. "Brown Sugar" by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards 1971 by ABKCO Music Inc., New York, USA. Used by permission. International Copyright Secured. All rights reserved. "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" by Shel Silverstein 1974 and 1980 Evil Eye Music Inc., USA. International Copyright Secured. All rights 'reserved. Used by permission. "Knock Three Times", Words and Music by Irwin Levine and Larry Russell Brown 1971 by 212 Music Co/Forty West Music Corp, USA. Reproduced by permission of EMI Songs Ltd. "Take a Giant Step", Words and Music by Carole King and Gerry Goffin 1966 by Screen Gems-EMI Music Inc, USA. Reproduced by permission of Screen Gems-EMI Music Ltd, London WC2H 0EA. "Everyday Housewife" by Charles Richard Cason Full Keel Music Company o/b/o Windswept Pacific Entertainment Company, controlled in the UK and Eire by Windswept Pacific Music Limited. "Tupelo Honey" by Van Morrison 1971 by Caledonia Soul Music Co. and WB Music Corp., USA. Warner Chappell Music Ltd, London W1Y 3FA. Reproduced by permission of International Music Publications Ltd. "When you Wish Upon a Star", Music by Leigh Harline, Words by Ned Washington 1940 by Bourne Co., USA, Warner Chappell Music Ltd, London W1Y 3FA. Reproduced by permission of international Music Publications Ltd. "There's No Lights on the Christmas Tree, Mother" by Harvey/Condron and Talisman. Reproduced by permission.

Every effort has been made to obtain necessary permissions with reference to copyright material. The publishers apologise if inadvertently any sources remain unacknowledged.

At the age of 37
She realised she'd never ride
Through Paris
In a sports car
With the warm wind in her hair

Shel Silverstein, 'The Ballad of Lucy Jordan'