Monday 23 November 2020

The Stairlift Ascends by Helen O'Rahilly

Cocooning with my ninety-year-old Aunt is not the life I’d imagined when I came back to live in Dublin after 30 years of being a high-flying media executive in London.

From the Groucho Club to our North Dublin coastal cocoon, it was back to earth with a bump. Funny and frustrating, living with the Aunt in our Covid bubble has been quite the eye-opener. Bickering, bitching, masking-up for rare outings, The Stairlift Ascends is a Twitter diary of our time trying to live together, of surviving the pandemic ... and each other.

Love, lashings of apple tart, laughter and a longing for trips to Arnotts have seen us through, so far ...

A hugely popular, funny and compassionate view on 2020 from @HelenORahilly 

What a fantastic little book. I say 'little' on purpose; this is a slim paperback, perfect for slipping into a purse or a coat pocket to read in a (socially distant!) queue.

The tweets are very funny. Helen has a gift for giving just enough information for the situation to be clear. Auntie is a wonderful character; she reads like someone out of Mrs Brown's Boys or Father Ted, but it works exactly because we all have a relative like that, or know of someone down the road like that.

It's very funny...I was laughing out loud as I was reading...but it's also serious and sad in spots, and anyone who's cared for a relative will recognise parts of it. I'll definitely be dipping back into it now and then, as a pick me up and as a reminder that I'm not alone.

Brilliant. Put it on your Christmas list. You won't be sorry.

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