A Page from my Life

by Ray D'Arcy (Compiler)

‘We asked listeners to be honest, creative, funny, engaging and evocative in their writing … to try to make us laugh, cry and think. We never imagined we would get the quantity and quality of entries that we did for A Page from My Life.’ – Ray D’Arcy


In the midst of the Covid crisis, the Ray D’Arcy Show invited RTÉ Radio 1 listeners to send in ‘A Page from My Life’: 500 words on a memorable event, or a story simply worth sharing. The response was overwhelming. Ray and his team were inundated with over 2,500 entries, from authors of all ages and all walks of life.


And what those entries created was an extraordinary picture of Irish life in microcosm. Funny and heart-breaking, poignant and surprising, they told a series of unforgettable stories … moments that changed everything, and where life itself seemed to hang in the balance. Quiet reflections on the meaning of love and loss. Hilarious tales of everyday mishaps, chance encounters, and feats of pure imagination. It was a timely reminder of the experiences and values that unite us, even as circumstances contrived to keep us apart.


Introduced by the Ray D’Arcy Show judges – bestselling authors Donal Ryan (The Spinning Heart), Emilie Pine (Notes to Self), Emer McLysaght (the Aisling series) and Eoin Colfer (Artemis Fowl) – A Page From My Life gathers 150 of these stories to form an exhilarating and moving testament to the wonder of everyday life.

Genres: Short Stories, Irish Literature, Nonfiction

320 pages, Hardcover

Published February 1, 2022

Reviews

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good stories written by listeners to the radio show so there is something for everyone in this book.

[gerard brangan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very worthwhile read, containing many gems. Very accessible: easy reading as individual 'stories' are limited to c. 2 pages. Well done to all, and hopefully many more will purchase this book and help a very worthy cause.

[Henry Jefferies · Rating 1 out of 5]

Uniformly dull and depressing. I searched for one of the “laugh out load” stories promised in the Foreword. All I found was an endless line of sad and sorry cliched characters or worse - cartoon villains such as the father who made his daughter pick up stones off a field on her confirmation day, the stepfather who pointed a gun at the head of his eight year old step-daughter to make her eat an egg, the father who returned to his young daughter her books in black plastic bags as a Christmas present, etc, etc, etc. If these are genuine stories from Irish lives, as the Foreword states, then Irish society has become depressingly dystopian ...

[Rónán Ó · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good short 1/2 pages stories but also some useless ones. Finishing with the Loss section was kind of a downer and I thought it had some of the weakest writing of the collection.

My dog also snacked on the book

[Grace Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

We all have moments in life that stay with us. Moments where time stands still. Those moments can be one of grief, shock or bliss but it's those moments that makes us who we are. We all have stories to tell. Us Irish are the best story tellers. A Page from My Life is a collection of stories of these moments from across Ireland

[Felicity Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great read from a wealth of writing talent untapped here. Well done all. And thank you for sharing your day with all of us. Not always an easy thing to do, but good for all

[Ita · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many talented writers. They had me smile, ponder and want to cry.

[Ruth · Rating 4 out of 5]

The edition I read had 351 pages.

[Margaret Mary Lynch · Rating 5 out of 5]

How do I adequately describe this book? A Page from my LifeIt is amazing, astonishing, fabulous, extraordinary, marvelous, remarkable, all of these adjectives and more could not describe how wonderful it is. Each and every short story merits an award for brilliance. Who knew there were so many wonderful storytellers waiting to be discovered? They are all unique, some are so sad,raw and harrowing it almost hurts to read them. Some are so profoundly beautiful and full of love. Many leave me wondering what went on before the story started and even more what was going to happen next.
One particular story about a carer really struck a cord with me. The writer sounds exhausted and struggling to cope but is full of guilt for her impatience with her husband. I would love to be able to help her, to give her some respite from the daily struggle and to allow her the space to "take care of herself" so that she can reclaim her empathy and see how her husband feels about his loss of independence, his inability to control his bodily functions and his loneliness. He need her understanding and love but she needs time out to recharge her batteries.
I felt every emotion while I read these stories. I recalled many childhood memories of happy and sad times. I laughed out loud and shed tears.
This would make a great Christmas present, though should come with a cautionary warning that some stories cut deep and could evoke intense feelings.