Bill Cullen IT'S A LONG WAY FROM PENNY APPLES First Edition Signed
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Bill Cullen IT'S A LONG WAY FROM PENNY APPLES First Edition Signed
First UK edition, first print hardback of IT'S A LONG WAY FROM PENNY APPLES, by Bill Cullen. Published by Hodder & Stoughton, London, 2002. Signed and inscribed by Cullen on the title page. With full numberline 2 4 6 8 10 9 7 5 3 1 on the copyright page.The book is in very good condition (Clean green cloth boards with gilt lettering on the spine) with only minor wear to the dust jacket, which is not price clipped (slight creasing to the edges mainly to the spine edges). Internally, the pages are clean and tight and there are no tears and no other inscriptions.
Bill Cullen was born in Dublin in 1942 and grew up in the inner city slums of Dublin's Summerhill tenements. A street seller from the age of six, Bill left school at thirteen to make a living. In 1956 he got a job in a Dublin Ford car dealership and by 1964, as a twenty-two-year-old, he was appointed director general of the dealership. In 1986 he took over the troubled Renault car distribution franchise and turned it into a success. Bill Cullen is a director of the Irish Youth Foundation and in 1998 was a recipient of the Lord Mayor's Award for his work with the disadvantaged young people of Dublin.
It's a Long Way from Penny Apples is a very warm, funny, affectionate tale of growing up in Dublin in the 50s and 60s - a true-life rags to riches with all the appeal of a family saga.
"Above all, the book is a letter to his mother, Mary Darcy, who saw her son go from selling in the streets to taking over Renault from Waterford Crystal. The day before she died, she said to Bill: 'God bless you, son, you've borrowed ?18 million. It's a long way from penny apples.'
Born and bred in the tough inner city slums of Summerhill in Dublin, Bill Cullen was one of fourteen children, whose mother, Mary was a hard-working fruit-seller who still made time to create dreams for her children.
When he was five years old, Liam (as he was known) was selling apples, for a penny each, from a basket held up by a leather belt around his neck. He left school at thirteen in order to work full time and help put food on the family table.
Dublin in the '40s and '50s was a harsh place, rife with unemployment and poverty, but the Cullens were blessed with the qualities of determination, good humour and an abundance of love. The lessons Liam learnt from his beloved grandmother, Molly - gypsy, storyteller, fish-seller, philosopher - stood him in good stead as he progressed from selling dolls and cinema tickets on street corners to a job in a Ford car dealership and eventually to head a company with a turnover of more than 250 million pounds.
With earthy humour and an acute ear for the words and voices of a vanished time, Bill Cullen weaves a wonderful tapestry of Irish people and events that mirrors Ireland's own rags to riches story. It will touch your heart and make your spirit sing."
'This life-enhancing journey from poverty-stricken hardship to opulence is full of humour, resilience and generosity. A genuine feel-good read.' Daily Express
'This is a racy portrait of Catholic community solidarity and a family that refused to be ground down by poverty.' The Sunday Times
'Refreshing, unsentimental, honest, optimistic and wise; and funny, too. This voice out of Ireland is the best one for years.' Libby Purves
459 pages. Illustrated with several black and white photographs.
ISBN: 0 340 82651 7
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Bill Cullen IT'S A LONG WAY FROM PENNY APPLES First Edition Signed