While Edna O'Brien's brilliant debut novel The Country Girls (1960) scandalized Ireland and was promptly banned, she has come to be regarded as one of that country's finest writers. In this frank memoir, she looks back with warmth and humour on a passionate life lived to the full. In the sparkling, evocative prose that characterizes her fiction, she recalls her rural childhood and family life, her writing, her travels, and her encounters with pop stars, Hollywood legends and literary lions. Off-mint.