Growing Up Next to The Mental
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Wish Mooney’s earliest memory in life is finding a corpse in the Waterford River. Jarring stuff for a four-year-old, yet far from the most shocking or bizarre he would witness growing up in west end St. John’s next door to the Waterford Hospital. Or, as it was unabashedly labelled before the advent of political correctness: the Mental.
An unfortunate moniker, but one legitimately derived from the original name of the place—the Hospital for Mental and Nervous Diseases—when it opened in 1854. Not until 1972 would it be renamed after the river that runs by it. But in Mooney’s world, which revolved mostly in and around the asylum’s drab, depressing confines in the mid-1970s, it was colloquially the Mental, just as its largely despondent inhabitants were the mental patients.
Thus was the oft-surreal environment that unavoidably enveloped Wish and the rest of the Irish Catholic Mooney clan, including the quietly acknowledged other realities of the place—the sad, the tragic, the maniacal. Little did Wish ever consider that any or all of that would come full circle later in life when, as the court reporter for the Daily News, he would be thrust into the middle of his own life story, replete with shocking conclusion.
Brian Callahan
Brian Callahan was born in St. John’s and is a graduate of St. Bonaventure’s and Brother Rice High School. He completed two years of English and political science courses at Memorial University before getting his start in media with the former Q93 and KIXX FM radio station in downtown St. John’s. But the bulk of his career was spent at the Evening Telegram, later the Telegram, as a reporter and editor for just over seventeen years, from 1990 to 2007. He subsequently went to work for his former Telegram colleague Ryan Cleary at the Independent newspaper before its unfortunate demise in 2008. In September 2009, Brian began working with the CBC as a commentator, news and current affairs producer, online reporter, and periodic host of the Fisheries Broadcast. In 2016, after nearly thirty years in journalism, Brian took a step back and decided to focus more on his own writing and music. Meanwhile, he took a job with Belfor in the construction industry, initially as an asbestos abatement worker and eventually into all facets of ripping apart structures, clearing the sites, and building them back up again. He currently works as a parliamentary transcription editor with the Hansard division of the House of Assembly. When he’s not in the office, he continues work on the next instalment of Wish Mooney’s adventures and enjoys playing gigs with his rock band, The Mics. Brian is also a sports junkie and loves playing a game of ball when time and schedule permit.
Related to Growing Up Next to The Mental
Historical Fiction For You
East of Eden Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Poisonwood Bible: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Demon Copperhead: A Pulitzer Prize Winner Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hallowe'en Party: Inspiration for the 20th Century Studios Major Motion Picture A Haunting in Venice Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lady Tan's Circle of Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cloud Cuckoo Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Strange Case of the Alchemist's Daughter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Yellow Wife: A Novel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The House of Eve Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Canterbury Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The House Is on Fire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Invisible Hour: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Tender Land: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Pale Blue Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Euphoria Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5That Bonesetter Woman: the new feelgood novel from the author of The Smallest Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Rules of Magic: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Magic Lessons: The Prequel to Practical Magic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Girls in the Stilt House: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Lost Journals of Sacajewea: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sisters Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rebecca Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Red Tent - 20th Anniversary Edition: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sold on a Monday: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Island of Sea Women: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Second Life of Mirielle West: A Haunting Historical Novel Perfect for Book Clubs Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Book Woman's Daughter: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quiet American Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tinkers: 10th Anniversary Edition Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5
Reviews for Growing Up Next to The Mental
0 ratings0 reviews