Deep End, The

The Deep End by novelist Mary Rose Callaghan tells of growing up in Dublin from the mid-1940s in a once well-off family fallen on hard times and forced at times to struggle with extreme poverty. Central to this enthralling and poignant memoir is the author’s relationship with her flamboyant mother, which endured all the hardships and her mother’s descent into mental illness. In the end, the author realises that, despite all the pain and suffering, her mother left her one great gift for life.