Room for a Single Lady – Clare Boylan

I picked this one up for a euro at the English store in Órgiva.
 
It’s a delightfully humorous account of a 1950s Dublin family from the viewpoint of the youngest of three sisters. When they let a room in the house to bring in some much-needed income, it opens the door to a series of interesting and curious women who will become significant influences on the girls. Minnie, especially, is a terrific character.
 
My favourite snippets from the book:
 
While everyone is at prayer in church, Rose, still a toddler, empties her mother’s old handbag onto the floor of the aisle. “No one took any notice until the priest held up the host and I held up the powder compact.”
 
When Miss Queenie “invited us to have a ‘Nice’ biscuit, we thought this was a polite, Protestant pronunciation of ‘nice’.”
 
Sissy’s throwaway comment: “Reality is immemorial to men.” To the young girls, Sissy is charismatic, glamorous, exciting. “It seemed as if all the adults we knew had failed some examination early on and been disqualified from participation in real life.”