A faithful picture of typical things in Irish life: the Station, the Sunday Mass, the grinding of landlordism, the agrarian crime, the eviction, the emigration-wake. See especially the chapter “Sunday in Doon.” This is the Author’s first novel and is somewhat immature.
⸺ THE SOGGARTH AROON. (Gill & Duffy). 2s. 6d. (N.Y.: Benziger). 1.00. Second edition, 1907. Third, 1908.
Pathetic experiences of a country curate in an out-of-the-way parish, where the people’s faith is strong and their lives supernaturally beautiful. The Soggarth shares the few joys and the many sorrows of their lives.
⸺ THE MOORES OF GLYNN. Pp. 354. (Washbourne). 3s. 6d. (N.Y.: Pratt). 2.00. [1907]. Third edition. 1915.
The fortunes of a family of four children whose mother is a beautiful and lovable character. The book is full of pictures of many phases of Irish life, the relations between landlord and tenant, priests and people, evictions, emigration, a “spoiled priest.” A typical description is the realistic picture of the pig fair. Full of true pathos, with an occasional touch of kindly humour.
⸺ THE ISLAND PARISH. Pp. 331. (Gill). 1908.
The work of an ideal young priest in Ballyvora, a kind of Sleepy Hollow where all is stagnation, poverty, and decay. The picture of these squalid conditions of life is one of photographic and unsparing exactness. Yet with loving insight the Author shows the peasant’s quiet happiness, beauty of soul, and downright holiness of life in the midst of all this. There is no plot, the book is a series of pictures loosely strung together. There is a chapter on Lisdoonvarna.
⸺ DONAL KENNY. (Washbourne). 1910. (N.Y.: Benziger). 1.10.
Donal tells his own story—his mother’s early death, followed by his father’s rapid fall into habits of drink; his own early struggles; his love for Norah Kenny; his search for traces of her real identity; and the happy ending of it all. Displays all the Author’s knowledge of Irish life in sketches of priests and people. Especially good is the character study of the faithful old nurse, Nancy, with her quaint sayings.—(Press Notice).