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 … 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 poverty-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.
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I could not read this book beyond the first couple chapters. Not very good.
I could hardly close this book to sleep!
Great story and wonderful characters. It was hard to put down.
Started better than it ended. It got too long and the story had a “too good to be true” story in the several last chapters. It just didn’t seem to have the touch of reality to it and the heroine was just too perfect. It could’ve been better and I did like the story it just got way beyond the realm of reality.
Not quite finished, but it is one of the two best books I have read in the last six months. I don’t want the story to end.
Very resourceful 9 year old that can provide for her father and three brothers! The characters are interesting, but I hope the priest meets his maker soon!
The entire series made me want to read more.
Great book, such a strong main character! Great story!
Enjoyed this book so thoroughly that I couldn’t wait to buy the rest of the series! Can’t wait for the next book and I’m sure I’ll be sad to see it end.
it was well written and interesting. I couldn’t wait to get the rest of the books in the series.
It was a glimpse into another world, another time, another culture, with credible characters and an interesting plot.
Right from the start the book was a winner. If I don’t get a hook right at the beginning I’m just not interested in Reading further. The characters are well-developed and the story flowed nicely. I went right into the next book because I couldn’t wait to find out what happened.
I enjoyed the characters and how they blossomed throughout the story.
Rich characters and well researched history. Great events occurred through “small and simple” people and efforts. Doing what is right, being fully committed, oft comes with cost. These brave people paid the cost. So much we can learn from our history – and recognize that there must be a better way!!
so many aspects unresolved, ready for series but disappointed it was so.
It was difficult to put this book down. I look forward to the rest of the series.
Absolute delight to read this book. I was captivated from start to finish. It is a series but was thought provoking from start to finish.
Couldn’t put it down , well written on a par with Maeve Binchy
Excellent approach to a pithy, well-focused memoir. well-researched by the author, which made it educational for me. Very interesting!
ended too soon