Bøker av Mary Lavin

Comprising four long stories - 'The Becker Wives', 'The Joy Ride', 'A Happy Death' and 'Magenta' - this collection is one of Lavin's most celebrated. Together, these stories capture the frustrations and grace of characters struggling to free themselves in places that are often hostile to their desires: a new bride coming home to her husband's prim family, two butlers taking a rare opportunity to go out drinking, a woman pleading with her dying husband to repent, and a young housekeeper whose fortunes seem to have suddenly changed.For the first time in decades, and with a foreword by Christine Dwyer Hickey, the Modern Irish Classics series brings this vital collection to a new generation of readers.

'Mary Lavin's stories... are subtle without making a palaver about it, beautifully told, no pat endings, no slickness; and as in life, nothing is resolved.' William TrevorFirst published in 1943, Tales from Bective Bridge is a collection of ten stories that memorably depict the rural mid-lands of Ireland and their people. Mary Lavin, though American-born, grew up in Athenry; and though the Irish short story was a dauntingly well-established form she succeeded in reinventing it with this, her debut collection, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, which exhibits a Chekhovian gift for the meaning of small things, contrary behaviours and emotions. This 2012 edition, reissued for the centenary of Mary Lavin's birth, includes an introduction by Evelyn Conlon. 'One of modern Irish fiction's most subversive voices... [Lavin's] art explored often brutal tensions, disappointments and frustrations dictating the relationships within so-called 'normal' families.' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

This absorbing family saga, first published in 1945, reveals the poignancies of an Irish Catholic upbringing, and is a testimony to Mary Lavin's considerable power as a storyteller. Theodore Coniffe, austere property owner in Castlerampart, looks forward to the birth of an heir when his third and youngest daughter, Lily, marries.

First published in 1950, this sensitive novel is a compelling record of one woman's love and the strength of her silent faith.