A tale of two single mothers - one in the 1890s and one in the 1990s

Nuala O’Connor’s new book tells the story of Belle Bilton, a woman who worked her way from scandalously pregnant London music hall dancer in the 1890s to Countess of Clancarty in Galway in a matter of three years. Here, she draws parallels with her own life as a single mother in 1990s Ireland

I know what it was like to have an unplanned pregnancy, and be a single parent, in 1990s, Holy Catholic Ireland: the sidelong glances; the parental disappointment; the hurtful remarks (often from friends).