I haven't read Roddy Doyle before, so this was my first book by him.
I really appreciate how well he writes female characters, which is quite rare!
This book has everything and more!

The Woman Behind the Door is the latest episode in the life of Paula Spencer wonderfully written by Roddy Doyle. Paula is in the later years of her life; her children are all adults most with family of their own. Paula is content living alone, but her glamorous forty-something self-employed daughter Nicola comes around to stay for a few days and Paula finds herself revisiting events of her past with a fresh perspective.

The story documents some aspects of pandemic life but is given the Roddy Doyle treatment which makes them ridiculous and amusing at the same time.

This is a powerful story told brilliantly with humour but heartbreaking emotion. The dialogue is sharp and witty; the cast of characters are larger than life. The Woman Behind the Door is a great book that will please all readers of Roddy Doyle and many who aren't yet in that group.

This is the third book featuring Paula Spencer. I read both many years ago and have scant memory of the details. So I guess you could read this as a stand alone. Obviously if you want the full experience, you could go back and play catch up. I would have liked the time to do that myself, but... too many books!
So, Paula, now at the ripe old age of 66 is all set. She has a job, a person to share her life with and friends. She also has grown up children, the eldest of which Nicola is having her turn at a life-crisis. It appeared on the surface that Nicola is a successful wife and mother, but as we all know, what we show other people is rarely the truth of what we really feel inside.
Set in the relatively early days of covid, we first catch up with Paula as she, along with her best friend, is on the cusp of getting her first vaccine. It's a bit all spelled out and dragged out, that bit, it's still a bit too soon for me. But soon enough, our story really gets going when Nicola turns up at Paula's door having left her family. What follows then is a warts and all, frank mother and daughter series of conversations about growing up, the bad and the occasional good. The suffering and damage that Nicola experienced due to Paula's addictions and Charlo's abuse... The scars that never healed.
But I will leave you to read all about that. I will advise tissues and occasional breaks as it is all a bit heavy at times. Interspersed with lighter, funnier moments for balance though. It's totally character driven and the characters are all brilliantly created and develop as the book progresses. As well as covid, we also skirt round the cost of living crisis and trying to make ends meet.
Personally, I had a bad relationship with my mother. We never did the mother-daughter things that other did. I think we were too alike to be able to communicate properly. This book also did make me think about my own stuff. And that's not necessarily a bad thing...
All in all, a book that I will probably need to re-read to get the very best from it. My thanks go to the Publisher and Netgalley for the chance to read this book.

Paula, the woman who walked into doors, is back. She's sixty-six now, sober, a grandmother, a survivor, though still battling her past too.
As always with Dolye the writing style is direct, conversational, the less said delivering more,
While dealing with serious issues this is also a brilliant look at Dublin, the walk up Talbot Street, The Spire, the Deliveroo cyclist nearly knocking you on your arse!
Not the easiest read but an important one nonetheless and it reasserts Doyle’s dominance as one of the great Irish writers.

Paula Spencer and Roddy Doyle are back.

The Women Behind the Door is a strong read about an older woman, Paula, revisiting her past in her thoughts as well as dealing with the pressures of the present. Covid is at the backdrop. Paula’s oldest daughter, Nicola, an epitome of the perfect, comes to live with her, and Paula’s conscience takes us on an emotional rollercoaster. There are serious and sensitive topics covered. The humour, wit, tenderness and wackiness are always present too. l like Paula Spencer and Roddy Doyle.
3.5 stars rounded up.
Plot 3
Characterisation 4
Prose 3.5

The Woman Being the Door
By Roddy Doyle

I was a huge fan in the late 80s when Doyle first held up a big mirror and made all us Dubs laugh at ourselves, but at some point I grew bored with the schtick and stopped reading him.

I wish I had read the Paula Spencer series from the beginning because, although I never felt lost in this story, I never quite felt any connection to Paula and didn't actually find the humour funny.

There are themes of mother daughter relationships, domestic and sexual abuse, addiction and living on the bread line that get bogged down by the exhaustive details that litter the text, unnecessary pages upon pages of cleaning of lap trays, opening nets of satsumas, to have or not have tea along with step by step instructions of how to make the tea. It's like Mr Doyle was so fixated on word count that he included any improbable notion that entered his own head.

This was a miss for me.

Thanks to #NetGalley and the publisher for the eGalley, these are my honest opinions

Publishes 12th September 2024

This was ok, but I didn't really connect with the characters and felt like it rambled on a bit at points. You got little snippets of Paula's backstory, but I hadn't read the previous two books featuring her, which I think might have connected me with the characters. Also, I wasn't keen on revisiting the COVID period, but that's just my personal feelings.

My thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

While reading The Women Behind the Door, I found the narrative at times repetitive. However when I finished the book and the essence of the story made sense, the path that Paula Spencer walked was fraught with flashbacks that were reinforced by repetition.
The complicated consequences that continue after violent traumatic domestic violence has long ended, are painfully described by Roddy Doyle. The ripple effect on family is poignantly recounted and the struggles by all affected to attain some modicum of functional relationships is heartbreaking.
I was able to put flesh and bones on Paula and Nicola, her daughter, and connect with the behavioural triggers that both lived.
Very powerful piece of work.

My thanks to Random House UK, Vintage and NetGalley for giving me the opportunity to read ‘The Women Behind The Door’ by Roddy Doyle in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.

Paula Spencer is in her mid-60’s and in a relationship with Joe although she has no desire to move in with him. Her eldest daughter Nicola turns up on Paula’s doorstep and says she’s experiencing a crisis as although she doesn’t dislike her husband Tony she wants to leave him and the children behind and start her life afresh. Over the following days they don’t want to see anyone so use the excuse of having contracted covid, while both women reveal memories that are occasionally outspoken, sometimes loving, but always honest.

‘The Women Behind The Door’ is the continuing story of Paula Spencer as she deals with her eldest daughter Nicola’s crisis, with welcome appearances from her best friend Mary. Told with the covid pandemic in the background, we’re treated to Paula and Mary’s experiences when they go for their first covid injection and decide to make a day of it by having a picnic with their friend and driver, Mandy. I enjoyed reading this novel despite covid being mentioned a lot, and some readers may not want to be reminded about it. The author skilfully conveys in the narrative that family relationships are complicated and that love isn’t mentioned as often as it should be but is there nonetheless.

The woman behind the door is the first book by Booker prize winner Roddy Doyle. So, I am grateful for a copy and couldn’t wait to read it.
Paula Spenser is in her sixties, sober and living on her own. She is trying to cope with living through covid and Lockdown. But she is strong after living through a relationship with a abusive husband. Her children are all flown the next, but she gets a knock on the door by Her daughter Nicola who has left her husband with her children.
When I started reading this book for me personally, I found something missing, and the story didn’t add up for me. I couldn’t connect to the story But after reading other people’s reviews, I understand that this is the third book involving Paula. Had I read the previous two other books I have more understanding of this novel. Don’t get me wrong this book is a book full of emotion and another gred read from the talented writer. It just didn’t work for me as I hoped it would. 3 stars from me.

FROM THE COVER📖

At sixty-six, Paula Spencer – mother, grandmother, widow, addict, survivor – is finally living her life. A job at the dry cleaners she enjoys, a man – Joe – with whom she shares what she wants, friends who see her for who she is, and four grown children, now with families and petty dramas the likes of which Paula could only have hoped for. Despite its ghosts, Paula has started to push her past aside.

That is until Paula’s eldest, Nicola, turns up on her doorstep. Independent, affluent, a loving wife and mother, “a success” – Nicola is suddenly determined to leave it all behind. Over the next few days, as Nicola gradually confides in Paula the secret that unleashed this moment of crisis, mother and daughter find themselves untangling anecdotes, jokes, memory and revelation to confront the bruised but beautiful symmetry of what each means to the other.

The next sequence in the life of Roddy Doyle’s quietly remarkable, ever-memorable Paula Spencer.

REVIEW ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Roddy has long be one of favourite writers for many years, I fell in love with his quick wit and dark humour after reading Paddy Clarke Ha Ha in school ever since then I have devoured his works. The Paula Spencer books are among the best I’ve read so was over the moon to be approved for this ARC,

Written in true Doyle style we catch with Paula and her family during the covid pandemic, while covid features it is very much in the background the focus of the plot is Paula her thoughts and feelings on everything from the vaccine to deliveroo. Doyle's writing is exquisite, beautifully juggling the difficulties of the past and the present for Paula he captures perfectly the inner monologues we all have within ourselves . Told over monthly interludes with snippets into the past we find out what is happening and what has happened to Paula and her family. I love Doyle’s dialogue driven writing style he is always in control of using events in a bigger story making it personal and relevant to the character’s story, he portrays the cost of life crisis perfectly though Paula.

Paula is a brilliant character despite her short comings she is a character you can not help engage with and like, in this book I loved the conversations between her and Mary they were gas and gave us insight to the fun loving girl Paula was once before life broke that sprit. While it’s an ordinary life she takes pleasure in and as reader you become captivated and immersed her world. This is for me is Doyle’s true talent as a writer he takes the everyday and makes it extraordinary, he is without doubt a literary genius this book further cementing that. Doyle has created iconic heroine in Paula Spencer she is a every woman who has battled and continues to battle to get over the traumas in her life while keeping a sense of humour, showing an unlimited resilence and a pure of heart kindness. Doyle proves any notion that men can not write woman wrong.

A brilliant book on the human condition told with love, laughter, tears and all a mighty voice. My book of the year.

An interesting read. I hadn’t read the previous books in this series but I watched The Family which was shown on TV a good few years ago. As it was set dues Covid it brought back memories of how our life was only a few years ago.

Emotional novel, fantastic realistic dialogues, Roddy Doyle is back to splendour. Funny and heartbreaking.

I found this okay but I have to admit I didn’t realise there were 2 other books before it so it may have hindered my enjoyment!! I didn’t love that it was set during Covid having lived through it but overall it was an emotional book with some sensitive topics handled well. I even found some parts funny tbh! Mother and daughter relationships are sometimes complicated and this showed well through the page.

I hadn't read any Roddy Doyle before this book, so I hadn't met Paula and her family. However, this reads well as a standalone novel - there is enough of a backstory given, that explains the reasons why Paula is like she is. I loved the dialogue, particularly between Paula and her best friend Mary. The relationship between Paula and her daughter Nicola is very complex and so brilliantly conveyed. I will definitely go back and read his previous novels. An easy 5*
Thank you #Netgalley for this ARC

For his latest novel, veteran Irish novelist Roddy Doyle returns to one of his most loved and memorable characters, Paula Spencer. Paula was protagonist of his early novel 'The Woman Who Walked Into Doors', where she was a victim of horrible domestic violence and suffering alcoholism, whilst also bringing up four small children. She returned in 'Paula Spencer', where she had recently stopped drinking and was trying to rebuild her life. Now she's back, in her mid-sixties, and battling through the strange times of the Covid pandemic.

Paula is a great character, funny, complex, sympathetic, flawed, tough and vulnerable. She's a realistic character and Doyle's writing is always very true to life, giving the smallest details of the day to day. That can make it slow, but it also makes it relatable and believable in a way that few novels truly are. The best sections are the dialogue, which he writes really well and are often funny. The less good sections are the long monologues, which I admit to skimming at times.

The story focusses on Paula and her eldest daughter, Nicola, who for many years had to act more as a parent to Paula than vice versa. She's grown up to be relatively wealthy and successful, with a good job, good husband and three nice children. But events during lockdown mean that their roles may be reversed again, and Paula has a chance to be there for her child in a way she was not always able to in the past.

It's not exactly a cheery story - Paula has had a hard life, and still has a hard life - albeit a much improved one compared to previous books. The people around her similarly have hard lives. But her spark and wit see both her and the reader through. There is some part of Paula that never quite gives up, and that's what makes her so loveable. She makes mistakes, her motives aren't always noble, and she faces the daily struggle of resisting alcohol. She doesn't sugarcoat her past and the impact it had on her children, particularly Nicola. But no matter what she is facing, no matter how frightened and reluctant she is, she ultimately finds the courage to get through it. In that way, there is a clearly hopeful note in there.

If you are fan of literary fiction, then I'd highly recommend this book. It's the best work by Doyle I've read for several years, and Paula is the best character he has ever created.

Roddy Doyle has the knack of making the reader is part of the conversations of the characters in the book, and party to the their thoughts.
It is an intimate style of writing.
Sometimes the words and thoughts of the characters can be trite, but really they are always seem necessary.
The feel of this book is that it part comic, part serious.
A major part of the story is very serious, and tragic.
This novel is just about what happens in covid, but covid is the background to the story.
As usual with Roddy Doyle's books, I loved it.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

4.5/5

I'd say that this book puts to bed the idea that men shouldn't write women. Roddy Doyle, in his third foray into Paula Spencer's life, nails the way women speak to each other, be they friends, colleagues or daughters.

The story follows Paula, now in her sixties, still sober, living alone and working in a dry cleaners. The book is set around the time of Covid and lockdown with all that entailed in Dublin. Paula is now having to negotiate life without any of her children but just as she feels her life is getting sorted her eldest (now middle-aged) daughter, Nicola, arrives on her doorstep having left her husband and children.

The story itself deals with lots of emotive issues - the family's past with the abusive Charlo; Nicola's mothering of Paula; Paula's need for forgiveness and her desire to get Nicola to allow herself to be looked after; Paula's relationship with her other children and grandchildren plus her new relationship with Joe, her seventy-something boyfriend and Mary, her new best friend.

The conversations between Mary and Paula, and Paula and Nicola are what set this book apart. Roddy Doyle hits the nail on the head with the difficult relationship that Paula has had with Nicola. Most mother-daughter relationships are strained at some point or other but theirs is more fraught than most and Roddy Doyle deals sensitively with it.

Another excellent book. Funny in parts, heartbreaking in others. Highly recommended.

Thankyou very much to Netgalley and Random House UK, Vintage for the advance review copy.

Almost 30 years on (how time flies!) we catch up with Paula (The Woman who walked into doors, 1996), now a sober 66 year old getting her vaccination appointment during the Pandemic. Paula is still iving a "hand to mouth" existence but has a great group of friends and her life is about to change as her daughter, Nicola, flees from a violent relationship and seeks refuge. The story is told in Paula's voice in monthly interludes as she copes with the ups and downs of her relationship with her daughter and we get flashbacks to Paula's life before covid and discover what is happening with the rest of the family. I think this novel works as a stand alone if you haven't read the first book, seen the episode about Paula as part of the "Family" TV series (1994) or just. like me, can;t recall all the details lost in the mists of time. This is a great read and it's lovely to find out what is happening for Paula.

This is the latest from the wonderful Irish author, Roddy Doyle, and her returns with this profoundly powerful, Dublin based character driven piece that builds on his previous works, The Woman who Walked into Doors, and the eponymous Paula Spencer, both of which regretfully I have never read. However, this did not prevent me from becoming captivated and immersed in the now 66 year old Paula's extraordinary yet into what has shaped into being the ordinary life she takes pleasure in, if anyone deserves a measure of peace in their life, it is Paula. Her 4 children are grown up, her dry cleaning job is just fine, there is a good man, but it is not serious, and she has a close circle of friends who see her.

However, there is the cost of living crisis to contend with, and the devastation that Covid wreaked in society, the effects of which so many still have to recover from. The tentacles of Paula's painful past, prove to be all too alive within her, a brutal violent marriage, drug addiction, shamefully humiliating memories refusing to be pushed away. In this mother and daughter narrative, sensitively portrayed, Paula;s eldest daughter, Nicola, has left her family to return home, paving the way for a challenging scenario of Nicola outlining the suffering and damage that past had on her life. There are complexities, simultaneous yet opposing emotions that arise, and a real need for humour to handle the ravaging pain of the past and the present.

Doyle's writing is exquisite, beautifully juggling the difficulties of the past and the present, his ability to slip into Paula's head is a resonating revelation, facing her children, as we recognise just how inescapable is her inner strength, her emotion resilience is a joy to observe. I loved reading this, it truly gets under your skin, but whilst I highly recommend this, I hope it appeals to a wide variety of readers, but as you will have gathered, it does eloquently tread through difficult lives, issues, and territories. Many thanks to the publisher for an ARC.