Ellen Devine

Oliver and Miss Dowling Ellen Devine

ALL PROCEEDS OF THIS BOOK ARE DONATED TO BARNARDO'S IRELAND. A story of hope, sacrifice and redemption.... In 1930, when Oliver Ryan knocks on Mary Dowling's door hoping to rent her spare room, neither of them know that they are about to change one another's lives. Mary is tired, having nursed her mother for years. She is looking forward to having a lodger she can talk to. Oliver is tired, and he just wants a safe place where he won't have to talk too much. Born to a single mother in the brutal regime of the North Dublin Workhouse, Oliver has never been quite sure of his place in the world. His mother, whom he remembers singing to him, disappeared when he was young, and he thinks he has a sister somewhere. In 1916, he joins the fighting in Dublin in the hopes of changing his life and it does, but not in the ways he expected.