Children of the Dead End: The Autobiography of an Irish Navvy

A first-person memoir traces a childhood in a poor rural community into years spent as an itinerant navvy, describing seasonal migration, squalid lodging-houses, and hazardous manual work on the road. Episodic chapters introduce fellow laborers and the women the narrator meets, and record fights, drunkenness, small kindnesses, and the relentless search for employment. Vivid scenes convey daily hunger, physical danger, and moral risks faced by young people, alongside moments of reading, camaraderie, and brief respite. The narrative mixes personal anecdotes with social observation, closing in reflection on the costs, compromises, and endurance demanded by that way of life.