Tato sága sleduje drsnou cestu mladé ženy, která se narodila do chudoby a nepřízně osudu. Od svého zneuctěného narození v Dublinu se musí probojovat životem plným bídy a zanedbávání. Vydává se na cestu za lepším životem, plnou nebezpečných rozhodnutí a nečekaných zvratů. Je to silný příběh o odolnosti, mateřství a nezlomné touze po přežití tváří v tvář drsným okolnostem.
Born a bastard to a teenage mother in the slums of 1950s Dublin, Martha has to be a fighter from the very start.As her mother moves from man to man, and more children follow, they live hand-to-mouth in squalid, freezing tenements, clothed in rags and forced to beg for food.
Aged thirteen, Martha is rescued by the courts from the clutches of her evil stepfather, Jackser, and her feckless mother, Sally.
In the third instalment of Martha Long's real-life account of abuse, depravation and cruelty at the hands of her parents and the establishment, Martha is now sixteen, her time at the convent school is up. In Ma, It's a Cauld Aul Night and I'm Lookin for a Bed, she leads us through her first months of freedom. With no friends or family to act as a safety net, Martha leaves the convent wearing a new set of clothes the nuns bought her, a suitcase with a second set of old clothes and a burning ambition to shake off her impoverished past. Hungry to become a person who will blend in with the middle classes, Martha yearns to be accepted as someone who can be loved, respected, and one day have a home of her own where she will be safe. But this is 1960s Dublin, where poverty is rife and the church works together with the Irish government to keep the poor and the ignorant in their place. Having been trained to work as a domestic by the nuns in the convent, Martha finds work as a skivvy, but finds that low pay and little free time is all she gets for her endeavours. This does not deter Martha. 'Life is a bowl of cherries!' she likes to think when the going is good. But further heartache awaits as people turn her away and predators await in the shadows.
At 16, Martha collapses on the streets, suffering from starvation and exposure. She has never experienced real affection before and is now plunged into the complex world of love between a man and a woman. This love brings heartbreaking consequences and changes the direction of Martha's life for ever .
The hard knocks have taken their toll on her health, and as she looks into the years still lying ahead of her, she shakes her head, feeling she hasn't the heart or the strength to go on. Martha returns and when she comes face to face with the evil, psychotic Jackser, she can no longer suppress the nightmares of her childhood.
After a failed suicide attempt and recovery in the mad house, Martha is heading for France to be reunited with the one true love of her life.Father Ralph Fitzgerald rescued her from the streets when she was sixteen and was the first person to show Martha true love and affection.