The Celtic and the gothic intertwine in this dark, dreamy hardcover debut by McBride (The Nature of Water and Air
) set in turn-of-the-20th-century Ireland. Deirdre O'Breen was raised primitively on the Great Island of Blasket, off the southwest coast of Ireland. After her parents die in mysterious circumstances when she is 14, she is sent to a convent school on the mainland and decides to become a nun. At the convent, she develops a schoolgirl crush on another novice, sharp-tongued Bairbre O'Breen. But her focus shifts when she meets Bairbre's devout, driven mother and handsome younger brother, Manus. Mrs. O'Breen orchestrates Manus and Deirdre's marriage, intending to use Deirde as "a kind of empty vessel like the Virgin Mary, who would carry holiness in her womb." The heavy burden of another's family legacy combined with the unspeakable secret of her own parents' death plunge Deirdre into unhappiness and despair. But when Mrs. O'Breen compels Deirdre to send her two teenaged daughters to the convent school and Deirdre finds herself pregnant, this time with a boy, she discovers the strength to share her family history with her daughters. McBride crafts her tale in rich, saturated language, though her misty-edged storytelling can be frustratingly insubstantial. Agent, Regula Noetzli. (June 3)
