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Walking the Line: Scenes from an Army Childhood
Kevin Brophy spent his formative years in the Married Quarters of the army barracks on the edge of Galway, on Ireland’s west coast, and Walking the Line is his moving account of boyhood in a soldier’s world.
Strangely, in a landscape dominated by men in uniform, the household at Number 2 in the Married Quarters revolves around Mammy, the gentle mother who heals all boyhood aches from wounded knees to wounded pride, and in many respects this book is a sustained lyrical narrative of the intense relationship between boy and mother.
Neither cutely naive nor wise beyond his years, the young Kevin’s observations on family and barracks, on town and school are by turns humorous and poignant, but spiced always with the incisive innocence of childhood. The ‘Line’ of the title is the path linking home and barracks with the boy’s other world of town and school; in Brophy’s limpid prose both worlds come richly to life.
Walking the Line is an important contribution to the literature of childhood and Ireland. The Epilogue, written from the mature perspective of middle age, is a poignant tribute to a way of life that is forever gone – the Married Quarters are no more.
Kevin Brophy was brought up in Galway, in the west of Ireland, and was educated locally by the Patrician Brothers and at University College, Galway. He spent most of his adult life in Dublin and London, but has now settled again in ‘the city of the tribes’.
Strangely, in a landscape dominated by men in uniform, the household at Number 2 in the Married Quarters revolves around Mammy, the gentle mother who heals all boyhood aches from wounded knees to wounded pride, and in many respects this book is a sustained lyrical narrative of the intense relationship between boy and mother.
Neither cutely naive nor wise beyond his years, the young Kevin’s observations on family and barracks, on town and school are by turns humorous and poignant, but spiced always with the incisive innocence of childhood. The ‘Line’ of the title is the path linking home and barracks with the boy’s other world of town and school; in Brophy’s limpid prose both worlds come richly to life.
Walking the Line is an important contribution to the literature of childhood and Ireland. The Epilogue, written from the mature perspective of middle age, is a poignant tribute to a way of life that is forever gone – the Married Quarters are no more.
Kevin Brophy was brought up in Galway, in the west of Ireland, and was educated locally by the Patrician Brothers and at University College, Galway. He spent most of his adult life in Dublin and London, but has now settled again in ‘the city of the tribes’.
182 pages, Paperback
Published September 7, 2018
About the author
Kevin Brophy
24 books6 followersKevin T. Brophy, Irish author.
No website (yet).
Kevin Brophy grew up in a military barracks on Ireland's west coast and now lives in Galway. He has written various non-fiction titles previously and his chequered career includes stints as a postman and teacher, barman and businessman. He has lived in Ireland, England and Poland but feels most at home in Germany.
See also: Kevin Brophy, Australian poet.
No website (yet).
Kevin Brophy grew up in a military barracks on Ireland's west coast and now lives in Galway. He has written various non-fiction titles previously and his chequered career includes stints as a postman and teacher, barman and businessman. He has lived in Ireland, England and Poland but feels most at home in Germany.
See also: Kevin Brophy, Australian poet.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 20, 2018
Irish boyhood poignantly recreated
It’s a charming tale of growing up in an Irish Army barracks in the 50’s. It sketches all the intensities of childhood and avoids the pitfall of becoming too sentimental. The portrait of his relationship with his mother is particularly poignant. It’s a rare glimpse into another world and that was so even for me, an English boy growing up at the same time. We spoke the same language but his was a different world and it’s no surprise he regrets it’s passing.
It’s a charming tale of growing up in an Irish Army barracks in the 50’s. It sketches all the intensities of childhood and avoids the pitfall of becoming too sentimental. The portrait of his relationship with his mother is particularly poignant. It’s a rare glimpse into another world and that was so even for me, an English boy growing up at the same time. We spoke the same language but his was a different world and it’s no surprise he regrets it’s passing.
October 5, 2018
Lyrical prose
Reading this book was an absolute pleasure. The sense of reliving the past with all its attendant emotions is palpable from beginning to end. Kevin Brophy, in this novel, does his heritage proud with his lyrical tale. I feel as if I too lived in the quarters after reading this story. This is a must read.
Reading this book was an absolute pleasure. The sense of reliving the past with all its attendant emotions is palpable from beginning to end. Kevin Brophy, in this novel, does his heritage proud with his lyrical tale. I feel as if I too lived in the quarters after reading this story. This is a must read.
August 27, 2026
Walking the Line is a tender, beautifully observed portrait of childhood that brings a vanished world of army barracks and 1950s Galway vividly back to life. I loved the balance of humour and poignancy in Kevin Brophy’s memories, particularly the deeply moving relationship between a boy and his mother, which gives the story so much warmth. His childhood perspective feels wonderfully genuine curious, funny, sometimes vulnerable, but never sentimental—and the contrast between home, barracks, school, and town makes the memoir especially immersive. A heartfelt reflection on family, place, growing up, and the memories that remain long after a way of life has disappeared.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews