HOUSE OF GOLD

by Elizabeth Cullinan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1969

An impressive first novel, centered around the regal expiration of an Irish-American matriarch and the initial dissolution of the sustaining myth that contained and shaped her children. With a solemn host of grown children gathered in the old house by the railroad tracks, where trains roared by uncontrolled by any Devlin, Mother Devlin Was dying, at the age of eighty-three. In Mother's proud ranks, from which the dead children were merely temporarily absent, were one priest and three nuns, an Army officer, a dutiful daughter, Elizabeth (burdened by guilt because of her earlier removal from the House), and Justin, the family misfit. It is Claire, the Major's wife, and to some extent Edwin, Elizabeth's husband, who look beyond the golden portieres of Mother Devlin's life and dream, at the sad and lonely children who so anxiously played out their roles. Little by little, in the ruminations. of children, grandchildren and ""outsiders,"" the sanctuary is riddled by doubts and fears as Mother dies (with Justin, the necessary adversary, ironically present). Miss Cullinan has detailed the Devlin house relentlessly--from Golden Anniversary mementos to linoleum--as manifestations of a ruling logos. The death takes place in July, and by chapter two, the house is heated and claustrophobic beyond belief--but the overview is worth the long slow climb. Rough-cut Maeve Brennan (the author has published stories in The New Yorker) and highly Promising.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1969

Categories: FICTION