Country Girls

Edna O’Brien was born in Twamgraney, County Clare. She was educated locally at Scarriff, and in Loughrea, County Galway. Her family was opposed to anything to do with literature and later she described her small village "enclosed, fervid and bigoted." When O’Brien was a student in Dublin and her mother found a book of Sean O’Casey in her suitcase she wanted to burn it. After finishing primary school O’Brien was educated at the Convent of Mercy in Loughreu (1941-46). In Dublin she worked in a pharmacy and studied at the Pharmaceutical College at night. During this period she wrote small pieces for the Irish Press. In 1950 she was was awarded a licence. She got married in the summer of 1954 and moved with her husband, the Czech/Irish writer Ernest Gébler, and two sons to London. She got divorced in 1964, but she has remained in England.

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She has a wonderful ability to describe scenes and an unhibited approach to her subject matter.

The story is written through the eyes of Kate and this gives us descriptions of things like the ashtray of cigarette butts for example, and of female underwear, stockings and brassieres. It seems very luxurious to have a car, and only a few keep them.

Baba Brennan is the opposite of Kate. When they move to Dublin they are both determined to live the good life, but they have shared opinions on what this so called "good life" is. He’s a very kind and helpful man, and he helps Kate’s father when he is short of money. On the one hand he’s married and lives one life, on the other hand he’s with Kate and lives sort of another life. It also helps create some sort of bond between the reader and the narrator. She is going to the same convent as Kate but her father pays for the stay, she doesn’t win any scolarship like Kate. He is unlike anyone Kate has ever met before. Several of her books were successfully filmed.

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Approximate Word count = 1660
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

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