Almost There: The Onward Journey of a Dublin Woman

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Riverhead Books, 2003 - Biography & Autobiography - 275 pages
Nuala O'Faolain burst upon the literary scene in 1998 with "Are You Somebody?," a fiercely candid account of her youth and adulthood that became a surprise bestseller around the world. "Almost There" begins at that moment when O'Faolain's life began to change, and it tells the story of a life in subtle, radical, and, above all, unforeseen renewal. It is on one level a tale of good fortune chasing out bad-of an accidental harvest of happiness. But it is also a provocative examination of one woman's experience of "the crucible of middle age"-a time of life that faces in two directions, forging the shape of the years to come, and clarifying and solidifying relationships to friends and lovers (past and present), family and self. "Almost There" is a crystalline reflection of a singular character, utterly engaged in life.

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About the author (2003)

Journalist and author Nuala O'Faolain was born in 1940 and grew up in the countryside near Dublin. Before earning a postgraduate degree in English from Oxford University, she studied English as University College, Dublin and medieval English literature at the University of Hull. She had numerous jobs including a lecturer in the English department at University College; produced programs for Open Door, a community-access documentary department at the BBC; and produced current-affairs television programs for Radio Telifis Eirann. She started writing a weekly opinion column for The Irish Times in 1986. She wrote two memoirs, Are You Somebody? (1996) and Almost There (2003), and two novels, My Dream of You (2001) and The Story of Chicago May (2006). She died of lung cancer on May 9, 2008.