Book Summary and Reviews of Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen

Big Girl, Small Town by Michelle Gallen

Big Girl, Small Town

by Michelle Gallen

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  • Dec 2020, 320 pages
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About this book

Book Summary

Meet Majella O'Neill, a heroine like no other, in this captivating Irish debut that has been called Milkman meets Derry Girls. For fans of Sally Rooney, Ottessa Moshfegh, and accessible literary fiction with an edge.

Shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award and the Irish Book Awards Newcomer of the Year

Majella is happiest out of the spotlight, away from her neighbors' stares and the gossips of the small town in Northern Ireland where she grew up just after the Troubles. She lives a quiet life caring for her alcoholic mother, working in the local chip shop, watching the regular customers come and go. She wears the same clothes each day (overalls, too small), has the same dinner each night (fish and chips, microwaved at home after her shift ends), and binge-watches old DVDs of the same show (Dallas, best show on TV) from the comfort of her bed. 

But underneath Majella's seemingly ordinary life are the facts that she doesn't know where her father is and that every person in her town has been changed by the lingering divide between Protestants and Catholics. When Majella's predictable existence is upended by the death of her granny, she comes to realize there may be more to life than the gossips of Aghybogey, the pub, and the chip shop. In fact, there just may be a whole big world outside her small town. 

Told in a highly original voice, with a captivating heroine readers will love and root for, Big Girl, Small Town will appeal to fans of Sally Rooney, Ottessa Moshfegh, and accessible literary fiction with an edge.

Trade Paperback Original

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Reviews

Media Reviews

"Make room for this late arrival from Dublin: an immensely lovable debut novel by Michelle Gallen called Big Girl, Small Town....There are so many scenes — Majella sitting in her late grandmother's farmhouse, having sex in the storeroom or recalling a batch of drowned kittens — that feel like literary alchemy. Again and again, with the raw elements of this cramped life, Gallen manages to evoke in us a wave of complex feelings. It's the kind of magic you'll feel lucky to find." - Ron Charles, The Washington Post

"[a] sensational debut… Gallen's effortless immersion into a gritty, endlessly bittersweet world packs a dizzying punch." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)

"With echoes of Gail Honeyman's Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine crossed with the 1990s-set British sitcom Derry Girls, this debut is recommended for fans of Ottessa Moshfegh, Emma Donoghue, and Sally Rooney." - Library Journal (starred review)

"A darkly hilarious novel about small-town life ... Wildly entertaining." - The Guardian

"Sinead Moriarty's endorsement 'Milkman meets Derry Girls' is as accurate as you'll get. But Big Girl, Small Town is even funnier than Derry Girls, while being just as fraught as Anna Burns's Booker Prize winner." - The Irish Independent
 
"A confident debut with a very memorable protagonist." - The Irish Times
 
"Engrossing." - Image magazine (One of 8 "Must Reads" of 2020)
 
"It's the humour, dry and gritty, that sets Big Girl, Small Town apart ... to think that this is Michelle Gallen's debut is astonishing, as Majella's narration is bold and assured ... evocative, caustic and compelling." - Sunday Business Post
 
"Northern Ireland is currently producing more exceptional writers per square inch than possibly anywhere else ... Michelle Gallen will most certainly earn her place in the honours list. Big Girl, Small Town is even funnier than Derry Girls, while being just as fraught as Anna Burns's Booker Prize winner." - Sunday Independent
 
"A winning evocation of a small Irish community whose people burst from its pages. Engaging and satisfying." - Daily Mail
 
"Superb."  - Irish Examiner
 
"Darkly funny." - Mail on Sunday
 
"Gallen's debut deserves comparisons with Anna Burns' Milkman for its depiction of the impact of the Troubles on a vulnerable young woman, but this terrifically imagined tender black comedy is very much its own book." - Metro
 
"Charming ... there is an easy warmth to Big Girl, Small Town." - Sunday Times
 
"Gallen's unrelenting eye for the bizarre and Coughlan's talent for deadpanning make it an absolute winner." - Financial Times
 
"Milkman meets Derry Girls. A cracking read." - Sinead Moriarty, bestselling author of Seven Letters

"Bawdy yet beautiful ... I grew extraordinarily attached to Majella." - Sara Baume, author of A Line Made by Walking

"A thrillingly fresh, provocative and touching voice." - Marian Keyes, bestselling author of Grown Ups

This information about Big Girl, Small Town was first featured in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.

Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.

Reader Reviews

Write your own reviewwrite your own review

Nelda Brangwin

The audio version is best
I am including both the audio and the written book in the review, because the audiobook made a real difference in my enjoyment of the story. Majella O’Neill is a young woman who lives in Aghbogy, a fictional town in Northern Ireland. She is autistic which makes living with her alcoholic, slovenly mother a challenge. Working in a local chip shop, she has no other plans for her future. Working in a shop where she is privy to all the gossip might be the dream of some small-town girls but Majella doesn’t like gossip or small talk. Told only from Majella’s point of view, she often thinks about “The Troubles” which took both her father and uncle. She is also dealing with the death of her Grandmother. It is a book in which nothing much happens, so it’s probably like real life for most of us. I got bogged down in the written book with the local dialect. I did not pick up any of the dark humor when reading, but in the audio version Nicola Coughlan’s voice brings life to the story. By the end of the audio version, I really felt I know Majella and knew that her autism was only a small part of who she is.

Elizabeth K. (Dallas, TX)

A Kind of Anti-Heroine
The main character, Majella, leads a rich interior life...but to the outside world, a very dull one. The book's style reminded me a little of James Joyce - no quotes for conversation, much interior thought process, a kind of gossipy, small-town feel to the characters. Majella has a distinctive voice and I found myself empathizing with her difficult life, even though I could not admire her. There was growth and change towards the end of the book - I might have given it a "very good" rating if the change had emerged from within, rather than being triggered by an exterior event. One warning - if swear words and amoral conduct in a story are offensive, this may not be the right book for you. But I'm glad I read it, and I'd be interested in reading this author's next work.

Ashleigh P. (Springfield, VA)

A quirky and gritty walk in someone else's shoes
Big Girl, Small Town is a quirky, raw, believable and humorous story that takes place in a small Northern Ireland town during the Troubles. The main character, Majella, is a surprisingly lovable protagonist after you sift (or trudge) through the crude grit of her painfully honest and unique personality. The author, Michelle Gallen, finds a way to draw you into Majella's exceedingly boring routine of living in squalor with her alcoholic mother and working at a grease pit of a chip shop. You will find yourself drawn like a moth to the flame to Majella's painfully sad and mundane life formed on a shaky foundation of abuse, neglect, poverty and addiction. Once you get into the swing of reading in a phonetic Irish diction, the story oozes ahead and you won't be able to put it down.

Milda S. (Warwick, NY)

An Ordinary Life
Michelle Gallen's Big Girl Small Town, a novel, is a fictional depiction of Majella O'Neill's life in a quiet Irish town in the aftermath of the Troubles. We see Majella as a good person but overwhelmed at the load she has to carry. It is a story told with compassion that makes you laugh and cry.

Majella grew up during the Troubles and remembers those days that led to the disappearance of her father. Her grandmother and her father were the only people who loved and guided Majella. It seems that Majella O'Neill is doomed to lead a life of servitude to her alcoholic mother and the Chip shop.

Majella accepts her life, until grandma's will gifts her with all of grandma's land and possessions, opening the door to new possibilities.

Barbara C. (Riverside, CA)

I feel conflicted!
Darkly hilarious? Engaging and satisfying? I found this book to be challenging. Majella would be someone I would probably not engage with in real life. She is certainly randy most of the time. Sex with anyone, anytime. Being of Irish heritage, some of vocabulary was comprehensible but much of it was hard to read. The detail was daft. I suppose many people enjoyed knowing what each customer ordered and ate. Me not so much. Having been to Ireland, this book gave me darker information regarding "the troubles". Another perspective is always welcome. I am glad I felt obligated to finish the book. The ending gave me more respect for Majella. Hope it works out.

Mary G. (North Royalton, OH)

Likes/Dislikes
Our first impression of Majella O'Neill comes through her long list of what she's not keen on and a short list of things that do meet her approval. My lists are reversed in length. I did not care for the foul language and casual sex. I was tempted to drop the book but I'm glad I stuck with it. I am glad I took the time to become acquainted with Majella. I recognized the quiet person trying to find a world she will be comfortable in, indeed, trying to find a way to be comfortable in her own skin. She's a kind person stuck in a small town and still grappling with results of the Irish conflicts. In the end, one can feel hope for Majella and maybe even all the other quiet and lost souls in our world.

...18 more reader reviews

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Author Information

Michelle Gallen Author Biography

Michelle Gallen was born in County Tyrone in the mid 1970s and grew up during the Troubles a few miles from the border between what she was told was the "Free" State and the "United" Kingdom. She studied English literature at Trinity College Dublin and won several prestigious prizes as a young writer. Following a devastating brain injury in her midtwenties, she co-founded three award-winning companies and won international recognition for digital innovation. She now lives in Dublin with her husband and kids.

Link to Michelle Gallen's Website

Name Pronunciation
Michelle Gallen: Sounds like gallon

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