Buy used:
$5.99
FREE delivery May 15 - 16. Details
Or fastest delivery May 9 - 10. Details
Used: Good | Details
Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta
Condition: Used: Good
Comment: Former library book; Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less
Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.
Amazon book clubs early access
Loading your book clubs
There was a problem loading your book clubs. Please try again.
Not in a club? Learn more
Amazon book clubs early access

Join or create book clubs

Choose books together

Track your books
Bring your club to Amazon Book Clubs, start a new book club and invite your friends to join, or find a club that’s right for you for free.
Explore Amazon Book Clubs
Kindle app logo image

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet, or computer - no Kindle device required.

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera - scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

QR code to download the Kindle App

Follow the author

Christina McKenna
+ Follow
More books from this author
Something went wrong. Please try your request again later.

The Misremembered Man Hardcover – March 1, 2008

by Christina Mckenna (Author)
4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 20,938 ratings
See all formats and editions
Jamie McCloone's early years in a grim, cruel orphanage have left him wary of people and anxious of change. Now in his early forties, he has no dreams of changing his lonely life as a bachelor farmer until his kind-hearted neighbours, Patrick and Rose, decide he is in need of a wife. Lydia couldn't be more different to Jamie. Rector's daughter and proper schoolteacher, she still lives at home, looking after her aged and demanding mother. She dreams constantly of changing her spinsterly fate, but has no idea how to - until a friend suggests she puts an ad in the Lonely Hearts column of the Mid-Ulster Vindicator. The result is a meeting of absolute opposites: farmer Jamie with his cavalier attitude to personal hygiene and his ignorance of the fairer sex, and Lydia Devine, for whom everything must be folded neatly and laid in its proper place - including her ideal man.
The Misremembered Man is a beautifully rendered portrait of life in rural Ireland which charms and delights with its authentic characters and gentle humor. But the tears it brings to our eyes are not only tears of laughter. This vivid portrayal of the universal search for love brings with it a darker tale, heartbreaking in its poignancy, for Jamie's search for love is truly a search for innocence and the childhood that was stolen from him. In this first novel, McKenna lays bare a sinister period of Ireland's history; one which many would prefer to leave hidden and safe from investigative eyes.
Read more Read less
Previous page
  1. Book 1 of 4
    Tailorstown
  2. Print length
    309 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    Toby Pr
  5. Publication date
    March 1, 2008
  6. Dimensions
    6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    1592642195
  8. ISBN-13
    978-1592642199
  9. See all details
Next page
Layla
"Layla" by Colleen Hoover for $7.19
From #1 New York Times bestselling author Colleen Hoover comes a novel that explores life after tragedy and the enduring spirit of love. | Learn more

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Memoirist McKenna's debut novel—a pastoral, feel-good yarn set in 1974 County Derry—concerns two Irish 40-somethings who meet through a newspaper Lonely Hearts column. Both farmer Jamie McCloone and schoolteacher Lydia Devine have suffered the recent death of a loved one. Jamie's traumatic childhood at a sweatshop run by the nuns from hell precipitates his dependence on Valium and whiskey. Lydia, meanwhile, grew up under the oppressive thumb of her now-dead rector father and—at age 40, still a virgin who has never tasted alcohol—decides it's time to live a little. The pair, of course, are grossly mismatched—she prim and buttoned-down, he a rough-edged rustic—which is underscored repeatedly during their lengthy postal courtship. Comic relief comes from Jamie's neighbors, the McFaddens, who do their best to aid Jamie and lift him from his saturnine moods. McKenna—who's written a memoir, My Mother Wore a Yellow Dress—places a few twists in the narrative, saving the most startling until the close. (Mar.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

"Her portrait of rural life is amusing and affectionate, wittily and winningly detailed..." -- Kirkus

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Toby Pr (March 1, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 309 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1592642195
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1592642199
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6 x 1.25 x 9 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.2 4.2 out of 5 stars 20,938 ratings

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.
Christina McKenna

Christina McKenna

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.
Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Christina McKenna is the author of the debut bestseller, "The Misremembered Man."

She grew up near the village of Draperstown, Northern Ireland. She trained as an artist before becoming a full-time author.

Book 1, a memoir, "My Mother Wore a Yellow Dress," was published to great critical acclaim in 2004 (updated 2014). It was described as a "redemptive postscript to over a decade of Irish childhood memoirs, concluding that our past, no matter how painful, need not keep us bound."

Two non-fiction titles dealing with the paranormal followed: "The Dark Sacrament" (2007) and "Ireland's Haunted Women" (2010).

Her next project took the form of a novel, in her opinion the most challenging type of writing. The genesis of "The Misremembered Man" (2008) came to her in a particularly lucid dream—evidence that, in some cases, dreams do indeed come true! The tragicomedy set in the fictional village of Tailorstown gave rise to two further novels comprising the Tailorstown Trilogy: "The Disenchanted Widow" (2013) and "The Godforsaken Daughter" (2015).

Novel 4, "The Spinster Wife" (2017), was a departure for her, it being a gripping, psychological mystery.

Novel 5, "Mrs Purboy Takes a Chance," her latest publication, was released in April 2023.

At present she's working on her 9th book, a work of non-fiction entitled "The Dark Sacrament, Book 2." Like its predecessor, it explores exorcism and the paranormal.

Customer reviews

4.2 out of 5 stars
4.2 out of 5
20,938 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

micki
5.0 out of 5 stars Loved this book, couldn’t put it down.
Reviewed in the United States on April 10, 2024
Verified Purchase
I certainly hope Christina McKenna continues her writing, can’t wait to read her next one. Thank you for the funny, sad, touching novel.
Helpful
 Report
C. Perez
4.0 out of 5 stars Very sad but engrossing
Reviewed in the United States on March 15, 2014
Verified Purchase
James McCloone, Jamie for short, is a forty-one year old bachelor who lives in a farm in the Irish countryside. Jamie, together with his sister, was abandoned as a baby by his mother at the door of an orphanage ruled by nuns. Jamie grew up abused both physically and sexually, and used as a child slave until he was adopted by Alice and Mick McCloone when he was about ten years old. Only then he knew kindness.

It's no wonder then that in middle age, Jamie is severely depressed and hasn't been able to connect at a deeper level with any woman. When the wife of a friend suggests that Jamie places an ad in the "lonely hearts" section of a newspaper, he does so and meets a kindred spirit, but with so much emotional baggage, will he find the happiness he deserves?

I really liked The Misremembered Man by Christina McKenna, but it was the saddest book I have read in a long while, though very well written.

The plot consists of two parallel stories: one with Jamie as an adult, the other describing his everyday life in the orphanage as a child. The part that takes place in the orphanage describes the excessive physical punishments Jamie and his mates endured, while the descriptions of the sexual abuse were implied, mere suggestions. I think is a wonder that with such a level of abuse Jamie grew up to be shy and depressed rather than a menace to his fellow beings. That kind of systematic abuse is a breeding ground for psychotic behavior later in life. Unfortunately as McKenna expresses at the end of the book, despite Jamie being a fictional character, this kind of abuse towards children by members of the Catholic clergy actually took place in Ireland until it was exposed in 1990.

Not everything that happens in The Misremembered Man is sad. The modern day part of the story was very funny and so realistic that anyone may have experienced similar situations at one point or another.

In summary, The Misremembered Man by Christina McKenna is a poignant story, bittersweet and tragic as only real life can be. You will laugh out loud and most certainly you will cry, but above all, the story and characters will haunt you.
5 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report
Jayne P. Bowers
5.0 out of 5 stars Family and Friends
Reviewed in the United States on June 13, 2013
Verified Purchase
Although I finished reading this book about two weeks ago, I'm still haunted by parts of it, and I suspect I will be for a very long time. Centered around a man named Jamie McCloone, the novel tells of Jamie's earlier days in a Catholic orphanage in Ireland and how these years continue to affect him as an adult. While parts are the story are amusing, even funny, there's always an undercurrent of sadness. Poor Jamie. Will he ever find love? What about companionship and acceptance? And what about a dose of self-esteem?

The book begins with a snapshot of the adult Jamie as he awakens to face another day of hard work among his animals. It's a lonely life, and the author soon mentions that Jamie's childhood was a brutal one that scarred him permanently. "Such were the effects of those seminal events that, over the years, had carved deep pathways into the lumpy geography of his brain, rendering him incapable of forgetting the injury that was done to him...forcing him to live a lesser life, full of empty dreams and broken hope, without much joy, without much meaning, without much love."

Jamie isn't the only lonely person in town. Lydia Devine, an unmarried school teacher who takes care of her elderly mother, needs an escort for an upcoming wedding. With the encouragement of a friend, Lydia soon places an ad in the newspaper announcing her interest in meeting a gentleman. With the encouragement of friends Paddy and Rose, Jamie too places an ad. Will these two 40ish people like each other? Things seem to be going along well until the unfortunate hair incident, but then Lydia's mother dies, and the situation (at least for Lydia) takes a back seat.

The plot is wonderfully thought-out, the scenes are richly described, and the characters are well-developed. I especially like the way the author skillfully writes about the present and then surprises the reader with a dark passage on Jamie's past. The latter scenes were so brutal and harsh that I skimmed some of them. How can people defile, molest, starve, and brutalize little children to such an extent?

I closed the book with a smile. And then I called my brother.
Helpful
 Report
Sascot
3.0 out of 5 stars Sensitive telling of a difficult subject
Reviewed in the United States on July 3, 2014
Verified Purchase
Is it just me or do I detect that books written by writers in English English - as opposed to USA English - that I download from Amazon E books have been fiddled with by Amazon and 'translated' into American ? Did the author really spell color or traveled like that ? And what is she doing talking about putting on "sneakers" ? Nobody in '70s Ireland would be wearing sneakers. Gym shoes or plimsoles, maybe but definitely not sneakers. There are other howlers in this book too - wisteria flowering at the end of what is a long, hot (that pretty amazing too) summer. No, not in Ireland.

If these kind of inaccuracies don't bother you then you'll love this book. I did but would have given it a higher score had they not been there. The story is a powerful one, the characters both colourful (note spelling...) and well defined through I was disappointed by the abrupt way it all came to an end, frankly out of keeping with the pace of the rest of the tale. Luckily there is plenty of Irish humour (note spelling....) that prevents the reader from the melancholy that ultimately, understandibly fells Jamie, the brave protagonist. This is not great literary masterpiece but for all its faults in the syntax, a book to enjoy for the story and the people in it, though be prepared never to eat a potato again.
4 people found this helpful
Helpful
 Report

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English
Christine Murphy
5.0 out of 5 stars A must read!
Reviewed in Canada on November 5, 2022
Verified Purchase
The author has such a unique style of writing that I thoroughly enjoyed. There are moments that are funny and amusing and others I found horribly sad and difficult to read. I highly recommend this book for the history of what occurred in the orphanages in Ireland and also that no matter how difficult life can be things turn out in the end. Never give up, that’s what this book is about.
Report
Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars The best book ever.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 28, 2024
Verified Purchase
Jamie’s story is utterly moving you can’t help but feel his pain. It has also very funny parts in the book too. It is my favourite book and I’ve read it several times and I still enjoy it it’s compelling.
Report
Francesca
5.0 out of 5 stars McKenna
Reviewed in Italy on March 30, 2018
Verified Purchase
Stile brillante ed elevato, ampio bagaglio lessicale. Lettura a tratti divertente ed ironica ed a tratti drammatica, quando viene descritta la vita in orfanotrofio del protagonista. Un libro avvincente che mi ha piacevolmente sorpreso.
Report
KrankyKat
5.0 out of 5 stars Stylistically not always great, but an important story. 4.5 stars.
Reviewed in Germany on January 24, 2016
Verified Purchase
Over the first quarter of the book, I was about to stop reading it several times. But something kept me reading.

I'm going to voice my criticism first:
First of all, the novel starts off very slowly. The author describes a lot of detail. But what bugged me most was that I felt the author does a lot of telling instead of showing. The characters are slightly cliché, especially at first, but they do gain some depth later. The book could probably have been shortened without losing much.

That being said, the story is really well-thought out and deals with an important part of Irish history, i.e. the systematic abuse of children in Catholic orphanages. It is heartbreaking to read about this topic again (Paddy Doyle's The God Squad comes to mind, of course), especially since a friend of mine was in one of these orphanages (in the Republic). The way the children's life is described makes you wonder how anybody could survive this ordeal in childhood at all.

In the end, the story is sad but sweet and I believe that we owe it the survivors and those who didn't make it to tell this story and to remember what these authoritarian priests and nuns did to them in the name of Christianity.
I also find that despite some criticism that I have with the author's style, there are some passages in which she captures the pain and the desperation of the boy in the orphanage very, very well.
Another thing I liked were the letters that the narrative works with. They have a really credible voice.

All in all, very important despite some minor flaws. A courageous author.
Report
Cassis
5.0 out of 5 stars Love this book
Reviewed in France on April 20, 2015
Verified Purchase
I didn't want this book to end! I found that the most harrowing and upsetting parts, that describe Jamie's life in the orphanage, could have been more difficult to read but events are described in such a way that it is for the reader to read between the lines and imagine for themselves the true horror. These chapters are then followed by his present life and how he tries to live with the mental and physical scars of his childhood. This could have been a very depressing read but it's not. There are several amusing moments which made me laugh so much that I couldn't see to read. His neighbours alone would make a very good and funny book (if you're reading this Christina . . .!)
3 people found this helpful
 Report