Mary McGreevy

Readers who recall Keady's debut (Celibates and Other Lovers) will enjoy this similar novel, a variation on the themes of religious repression and community support in rural Ireland. When Sister Mary McGreevy comes home to Creevagh, County Mayo, in 1950 for her father's funeral, she resolves not to return to her convent in the capital but instead to shed her habit, take over the family land and become a ""farmer in her own right."" As if this decision isn't enough to scandalize Creevagh, she then chooses to have a child on her own and infuriates her neighbors by refusing to name the father. Mary is at once opaque and admirable. One wonders if Keady even understands his own creation when he pairs her off in a unsatisfactory fashion at the book's conclusion, having led us to hope for a more plausible, if unorthodox, ending. But it is Keady's talent for exposing the bittersweet intricacies of rural Irish life that is the most enjoyable part of his work. For all the conservative wagging tongues of Creevagh, there is also an intrinsic compassion at work in the village--personified by Mary's best friend, by the woman who falls in love with Mary and by the kindly parish priest--that overcomes prejudice. It is refreshing to read this spirited depiction of a society forever defined by John Ford's The Quiet Man. The wilds of Mayo have seen wilder things than Hollywood--or the Irish Tourist Board--would have us know, and Keady knows how to reveal them. Editor, Frederick Ramey.(Sept.) FYI: Born on a farm in western Ireland, Keady served for several years as a Catholic missionary priest in Brazil.