Ita Doyle- 'In all my life I have lived in tvvo houses, had tvvo jobs, and
one husband. I'm a very interesting person.'RORY AND ITA, Roddy Doyle's
first non-fiction book, tells -largely in their own words -the story of his
parents' lives from their first memories to the present. Born in 1923 and
1925 respectively, they met at a New Year's Eve dance in 1947 and married
in 1951. They remember every detail of their Dublin childhoods -the people
(aunts, cousins, shopkeepers, friends, teachers), the politics (both came
from Republican families), idyllic times in the Wexford countryside for
Ita, Rory's apprenticeship as a printer. Ita's mother died when she was
three ('the only memory I have is of her hands, doing things'); Rory was
the oldest of nine children, five of them girls.By the time they put down a
deposit of two hundred pounds for a house in Kilbarrack, Rory was working
as a compositor at the Irish Independent. By the time the first of their
four children was born he'd become a teacher, at the School of Printing in
Dublin. Kilbarrack began to change ('it wasn't a rural place any more') and
Ireland too. Through their eyes we see the intensely Catholic society of
their youth being transformed into the vibrant, modern Ireland of
today.Both Rory and Ita Doyle are marvellous talkers, with excellent
memories, so combined with Roddy Doyle's legendary skill in illuminating
ordinary experience, it makes for a book of tremendous warmth and humanity.