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MARY MCGREEVY

Name: MARY MCGREEVY
Author: Walter Keady
ISBN: 1-878448-83-8

by Walter Keady ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1998

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A freethinking woman turns a rural community in the west of Ireland on its head, in this quaint but unremarkable tale by Keady (Celibates and Other Lovers, not reviewed). It’s the early 1950s when Sister Mary Thomas emerges from the convent to be with her father in his last days, then drops her habit to resume life as Mary McGreevy, a red-haired, green-eyed beauty who immediately sets all the men’s hearts aflutter. She inherits the family farm and does a first-rate job of running it, while an endless stream of admirers flocks to her door. The painfully shy footballer, the middle-aged bartender, the head teacher at the local school—even the new parish priest—come knocking, and each is served with more tea and flirtation than he can handle. But Mary knows her own mind, and in spite of her winsome ways, she’s determined never to marry. This choice, unique in that time and place though it is, might have been acceptable to her neighbors . . . had she not chosen to bear a child. Her adamant refusal to name the father only fans speculation, and every one of her admirers comes to feel the heat. The schoolmaster is the first primary suspect, even though he’s recently married (to a woman who fancies Mary herself). But in time the finger of blame points to the priest—a caring, thoughtful man whose frequent visits to her farm, fueled by a private belief that Mary may be possessed, have not gone unnoticed. Denounced to the archbishop, the brokenhearted cleric is removed from his parish, and in the ensuing uproar the surprising, painful truth comes out. A fond depiction of Irish country life, but the surfeit of country characters results in more than a few caricatures. The heroine herself, for all her musical laughter and ankle-flashing, remains something of a cipher as well.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1998

ISBN: 1-878448-83-8

Page Count: 260

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1998

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE AGITATOR
by Walter Keady

- BOOK REVIEW
THE DOWRY
by Walter Keady

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.

Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.

Pub Date: March 1, 2001

ISBN: 0-609-60737-5

Page Count: 336

Publisher: Crown

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE WOMEN
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE FOUR WINDS
by Kristin Hannah

- BOOK REVIEW
THE GREAT ALONE
by Kristin Hannah

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.