Mary McGreevy Book

After her father's death, Sister Mary Thomas leaves her convent to reclaim the family farm in the Irish village of Kildawree. In 1950, her status as ex-nun scandalizes the women of the village, but her beauty, strength, willfulness and wit attract every eligible man-and a few who shouldn't be so available. Mary has no interest in marrying but decides to have a child. As the town tries to identify the father, we see what attracts them to this passionate Irish woman, particularly as she appears to the parish priest. He knows her attractions, does his best by her, and then suffers the consequences of his light hand and unjudging clerical spirit. Written with Keady's characteristic charm and graceful humor, Mary McGreevy is a moving, funny, and forceful novel of the heart.

Publishers Weekly

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.