Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?
Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? These are the words five-year-old Séamas O’Reilly asked of each guest at his mother’s funeral reception, a story that lives on in infamy within his large and boisterous family.
His memoir is the story of growing up as one of eleven siblings in Derry, smack-dab on the border of Northern Ireland and Ireland. Told in chapters that are each more hilarious or poignant than the last, he details how his enormous family had to travel in a glorified bus, how his father’s penchant for taping movies grew into an unrivaled library of VHS tapes, how his bigger siblings and smaller ones were often more like different generations, and how the loss of his beloved mother affected all of them.
Told with wit and depth and shockingly blasé mentions of IRA bombings, O’Reilly’s memoir is a delight from start to finish. Highly recommended on audiobook.
Quote:
"I was well into adulthood before I realised most other people don’t have to list their family in one long run, and always in age order — Sinead-Dara-Shane-Orla-Maeve-Mairead-Dearbhaile-Caoimhe-Fionnuala-Conall — because they will, otherwise, leave someone out. Even though this is true, I still reserve the right to be offended if anyone asks if I know all my siblings’ names, which happens roughly a third of the time I mention the size of my family.
‘Well,’ I’ll say, to some friend of a friend, in between bites of tapas, ‘there is one brother whose name I’ve never caught."‘
‘Really?’
‘Yeah, tall guy, lovely fella all things considered,’ I’ll say, spooning the last bit of tapenade onto a pita, ‘but it’s just gone on too long. I’d feel rude introducing myself now that we’re approaching middle age.’”
Author:
Séamas O’Reilly is an author and columnist. His work has appeared in The Observer, Irish Tatler, Vice, the New York Times, and The Gaurdian. Originally from Derry, he now lives in London. Did Ye Hear Mammy Died? is his first published book.
Published: 2021
Length: 225 pages
Set in: Derry, Northern Ireland