Autobiography

First published in 1980. Has sold over 1½ million copies world-wide, reaching No. 2 in the Sunday Times bestseller list. It was very well reviewed and was the most borrowed book from public libraries in the UK for several years.

In it, Mary O’Hara writes about her early days in Sligo, her teenage years in the Dublin of the 50s, her introduction to the music and song of Ireland, her marriage to the young poet Richard Selig, her prime-time programmes on the newly established BBC-TV through her appearance at the Edinburgh International Festival. She describes the premature death of her husband, her subsequent entry into a monastic order of nuns and her emergence 12½ to new-found acclaim and contentment.

She tells her moving and surprisingly uplifting story honestly and even amusingly… Her account of life in a nunnery is fascinating, her courage and faith are amazing.
- Graham Lord THE SUNDAY EXPRESS

An enchanting book.
- Rowanne Pasco THE UNIVERSE

A moving autobiography… She writes with a clean simplicity which is as accomplished as her singing… Ms. O’Hara has applied her new found gift to the most intensely moving autobiography for many a year.
- John Paddy Browne THE IRISH POST

Róisín Dubh (Dark Rosaleen), one of the great (Amhrán Mór) songs of the of the Gaelic tradition. A patriotic song in the guise of a love song, dating from 16th century.