Product Description

This is the second book in the Agnes Browne trilogy, continuing the hilarious saga of the ups and downs, minor scrapes and major run-ins of the seven children of Agnes Browne, The Mammy of the bestselling novel of the same name. Full of joy, humour, pathos and the raw vernacular of the Dublin streets. Agnes Browne and her seven 'chisellers' take on the world ! and win! It's three years since Redser's death and Agnes Browne soldiers on, being mother, father and referee to her fighting family of seven. Helped out financially by her eldest, and hormonally by the amorous Pierre, Agnes copes with family tragedy, success and the move from the Jarro to the 'wilds of the country' - suburban Finglas. And when the family's dreams are threatened by an unscrupulous gangster he learns a costly lesson - don't mess with the children of Agnes Browne!

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #38273 in Books
• Published on: 1995-10-31
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 190 pages

About the Author
Now author, actor/director/ script-writer, playwright, video star as well as stand-up comic, the Brendan O'Carroll story begins very modestly. The youngest of eleven children, Brendan O'Carroll was born in Dublin's inner-city in 1955. His mother, Maureen was a Labour TD (MP) and a huge influence on his life. He left school at 12 and worked as a waiter, trying many other occupations in his spare time - disco manager, milkman, pirate radio disc-jockey, painter-decorator etc. For a time he ran his own bar and cabaret lounge before being persuaded to try the comedy circuit. The gigs were small at first and even included his own version of 'Blind Date', but word soon got round about this original and outrageous funnyman and then there was standing-room only. The real turning point in Brendan's career was his first appearance on The Late Late Show, Ireland's longest-running chat show, also shown weekly on Channel 4 in the UK. The studio audience and the viewers loved him. His first video Live at the Tivoli went straight to No 1, knocking U2 out of the top slot and pushing Garth Brooks to No 3. In 1994 he was voted Ireland's No 1 Variety Entertainer at the National Entertainment Awards. He went on to make 4 top-selling videos, and a bestselling record, as well as touring in Ireland, the UK and the USA. The radio show Mrs Browne's Boys, written by and starring Brendan, had a phenomenal daily audience on 2FM and led to the creation of Agnes Browne as the central character in Brendan's first novel, The Mammy, published in 1994. The book topped the bestseller charts in Ireland for months and the film rights were snapped up. The Mammy is now also available as a talking book. The sequel to The Mammy, entitled The Chisellers, published in 1995, was also a long-running bestseller, and the final book in the trilogy, The Granny, (1996) went straight to No 1 in the Irish Bestseller list; the first print-run sold out immediately. Meanwhile Brendan wrote a play, The Course, which had a five-month sell-out run in Dublin in 1995/96 and has toured in England (London, Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool) and Scotland as well as in Canada. Brendan can be seen on the big screen in the film of Roddy Doyle's The Van, in which he plays alongside Colm Meaney of Star Trek and The Snapper fame. His performance has been described by the critics as 'spot-on'. He also hosts a quiz show on RTE - Hot Milk and Pepper.

Customer Reviews

Without Qualification, Flawless the Sequel
A sequel to a wonderful book is inherently at risk. For when it is to be read by a person familiar with the initial experience, part two is almost predestined to be disappointment. Book one has the advantage of introducing all that is new. The final of the three can tie all the experiences together, can bring closure. But the middle event must maintain the reader's enthusiasm. When the story and its execution are excellent, the reader is enthusiastic for the final event. The last book is not read just to complete the cycle. Happily there are no absolutes, exceptions ensure that there will be pleasant surprises, not all repeated experience need be as expected.

With, "The Chisellers", Mr. Brendan O'Carroll has repeated the brilliance of, "The Mammy", without resorting to repeating himself as a writer, or forcing his characters to remain unchanged. This writer brings all of the people you love in part one and he allows them to evolve as a person would in their own life. The mood of this book is different, but is also a natural progression. The Browne Clan is getting older; adulthood envelops some, while it still awaits the younger children. Agnes too is aging, adapting to the dramatic changes she was forced to cope with in the first book. However as I mentioned when commenting upon, "The Mammy", Mr. O'Carroll tells a wonderful story, which happens to take place with an Irish Family. While it is true this brings with it some detail that may be familiar, the fact that this is an Irish Family is never what drives this book. He never allows his work to cheat and use the easy cliché.

The Author also brings to this wonderful trilogy people that are not Catholic, that are not Irish, and they are not by default the evil players. His story is inclusive; the world he writes about is not a fantasyland where the pains and trials of life are absent. But neither is it a world that when suffering appears, it appears as a certain brand, a certain nationality, a certain group of worn clichés.

And in this second book there is great pain, there is senseless destruction and loss. And while it would be very easy of accusing the Author of being a bit too neat with finding the lining of silver in one cloud too many, it is no more than most tales of Ireland when every cloud contains a granite mountain.

This amazing writer is two for two, and now it remains to be seen if he has the final third of the hat trick within him. For this middle installment is as good as number one, so he has nothing to improve upon, as the first two were uniformly tremendous.

Brilliant, entertaining and kept me entertained throughout.
This book was great, just like the Mammy Brendan O'Carroll has managed to keep the Browne family saga together and with it kept me entertained so much that I wanted to read the Granny to find out what happens next. When reading about Agnes Browne and her brood I felt a part of it and wanted it never to end - IT WAS GREAT!

The Chisellers
Fantastic book following the story of the Browns. Not just as good as first book - The Mammy but laughs and tears throughout. Could be set in Glasgow as the same sense of humour. My sister saw and heard me laughing that she couldn't wait to read book. She managed to read it on the flight home from tenerife!The Chisellers