Through streets broad and narrow by Gemma Jackson - Aug 2013

[Clare Bookclub Mod]

This is a debut novel from Irish author Gemma Jackson, a fictional amalgamation of the stories she grew up hearing of the The Lane in Dublin. Gemma has worked her way around the world, taking whatever work was legal and available. She has herded sheep in Devon, been air hostess to the Shah of Iran and written speeches for a TV evangelist. Gemma's motto is 'I'll try anything once. If I don't like I won't do it again.' She has one child.

On New Year’s Day 1925 Ivy Rose Murphy awakes to find her world changed forever. Her irresponsible Da is dead. She is grief-stricken and alone – but for the first time in her life free to please herself.

After her mother deserted the family, Ivy became the sole provider for her da and three brothers. Pushing a pram around the well-to-do areas of Dublin every day, she begged for the discards of the wealthy which she then turned into items she could sell around Dublin’s markets.

As she visits the morgue to pay her respects to her Da, a chance meeting introduces Ivy to a new world of money and privilege, her mother's world. Ivy is suddenly a woman on a mission to improve herself and her lot in life.

Jem Ryan is the owner of a livery near Ivy’s tenement. When an accident occurs in one of his carriages, leaving a young girl homeless, it is Ivy he turns to. With Jem and the people she meets in her travels around Dublin, Ivy begins to break out of the property-ridden world that is all she has ever known.

Through Streets Broad and Narrow is a story of strength and determination in the unrelenting world that was Dublin tenement life.