Aunt: *calling loudly from sitting room* Helen, can you help me?
Me: *drops everything, rushes to front room, expecting her to have fallen*
Aunt: The cat’s on my lap, could you pour me a small Jameson?
Cocooning with my ninety-year-old Aunt is not the life I’d imagined when I came back to live in Dublin after 30 years of being a high-flying media executive in London.
From the Groucho Club to our North Dublin coastal cocoon, it was back to earth with a bump. Funny and frustrating, living with the Aunt in our Covid bubble has been quite the eye-opener. Bickering, bitching, masking-up for rare outings, The Stairlift Ascends is a Twitter diary of our time trying to live together, of surviving the pandemic ... and each other.
Love, lashings of apple tart, laughter and a longing for trips to Arnotts have seen us through, so far ...
A hugely popular, funny and compassionate view on 2020 from @HelenORahilly
"
Perfect Christmas stocking present
" - BBC Radio Ulster’s Steven Rainey Show
"
Very funny … a lovely book
" - Cork 96FM’s The Opinion Line with PJ Coogan
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Thank you for our wonderful chat today @HelenORahilly @C103Cork
#Corktoday really enjoyed it and love, love, love your book! #stairliftascends
" - Cork’s C103’s Cork Today with Patricia Messenger
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A great stocking filler
" - RTE Radio 1’s ‘Sunday with Miriam’
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A hoot
" - Irish Daily Mail
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Funny, insightful … really important
" - Irish Examiner
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It’s a delight...a gorgeous, gorgeous little book
" - Patricia Messenger, C103’s Cork Today
