MACNAMARA, Rachel Swete.
⸺ SPINNERS IN SILENCE. Pp. 317. (Blackwood). 6s. 1911.
Fingal and Lutie are lovers somewhere in the wilds of Ireland. Enter an Interloper (a danseuse of doubtful reputation), who falls genuinely in love with F., and tries to win him. She fails, and exit. The atmosphere is very ideal and the language, especially the conversations, somewhat high-flown. Author writes well, and is clearly sympathetic to Ireland. The housekeeper cousin of “county family” status, with her genteel notions, is well sketched.
M’NULTY, Edward. B. 1856, Randalstown, Co. Antrim. Ed. in the Incorporated Society’s School, Aungier St., Dublin, where he was a schoolmate and intimate of G. B. Shaw. Contributes to various periodicals—Irish Society, The Occult Review, &c., and has written a play, “The Lord Mayor,” for the Abbey Theatre. Satirizes Irish failings, but is proud of being an Irishman himself. Resides in Ranelagh, Dublin.
⸺ MISTHER O’RYAN. Pp. 271. (Arnold). 3s. 6d. 1894.
A priest, squat, red-faced, whiskey-loving, unspeakably vulgar, and a ruffian to whom he is disgracefully related, organize a branch of the “Lague,” and boycott a farmer who will not join. The latter’s daughter dies tragically in consequence. The typical “pesint” is introduced as cringeing, priest-ridden, and wholly degraded. Impossible brogue throughout.
⸺ SON OF A PEASANT. Pp. 342. (Arnold). 1897.
A great advance on Misther O’Ryan, q.v. A tragic-comedy of life among lower middle class people in a small provincial town. The “son of a peasant” is Clarence Maguire, an obscure young schoolmaster, who in the end comes in for great wealth and all but wins the daughter of Sir Herbert O’Hara, an impoverished gentleman. A sub-plot is furnished by the love affairs of Constable Kerrigan and his determined efforts after promotion. The plot affords the Author scope for many genuinely humorous scenes, especially those in the Flanagan family, which are admirably done, and for the clever portrayal of some of the meaner aspects of human nature—class pride, servility, the worship of the moneyed man, time serving, &c. The plot largely turns on an absurd superstition about changelings. This leads to the hideous tragedy of the close. The book is marred by a travesty of the brogue. Otherwise it is not anti-national.
⸺ MAUREEN. Pp. 343. (Arnold). 6s. 1904.
Of the same type as Misther O’Ryan. One of the priests introduced trades with a miraculous statue on the superstition of the people; the other is a sleek, smooth fop, thoroughly and heartlessly vicious. There is little else besides this in the book.