She Died Young

The only Irish actress to win an Oscar, for My Left Foot, Brenda Fricker has had a stellar career in movies, theatre and TV. She is best known for her roles in Home Alone 2, So I Married an Axe Murderer and the BBC series Casualty, amongst others.But her success was hard won. The daughter of a clever, detached father and a mother of fanatical Catholic convictions, Brenda was a curious child who lived in the shadow of her elder sister and longed for the approval of her parents.In a sequence of events that defies belief, Brenda went through moments that would have destroyed most lives. As a young girl, she was sent each week to the home of a family friend, an actor who promised to introduce her to the beauties of the theatre and literature. He also sexually abused her, in a relationship that lasted for years. She endured awful hospital visits for major accidents and childhood illnesses, including a battle with tuberculosis, then still a killer disease. Emerging from her recovery as a striking young woman, Brenda was assaulted by two more predatory men.Through all these traumas, Brenda found solace in her growing love of acting and of literature. Roles came her way, at first in Ireland and then in London. She met great actors, producers and writers. Television work led to the movies. But her personal life remained turbulent and her great love, Barry Davis, was a tragic victim of alcoholism.Brenda Fricker''s account of these moments in her life is pin sharp, honest and ferocious.Between the Falls is the harrowing but above all inspiring memoir of an extraordinary, creative, resilient woman.