Life
1930- ; b. Clare, brought up Dundalk, Co. Louth; settled in Limerick;
studied post-grad. nursing in London and worked in Oxford and Ireland;
Hennessy Lit. Award, 1972; joined Women’s Movement in 1974; administered
Limerick refuge for battered wives (ADAPT shelter); broadcasts on RTE;
A Life of Her Own (1976); Necessary Treasons (1985), novel;
Resolution[s] (1986), poems; Orange Horses
and Other Stories (1990); Florrie’s Girls (London:
Michael Joseph 1991); ATT
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Works
Novels, A Life of Her Own (Dublin: Poolbeg 1976), stories,
Hennessy Award; Necessary Treasons (Michael Joseph 1985; Methuen
1986; Belfast: Blackstaff 1991) [novel on woman’s escape from provincial
family life and baptism of fire in feminist movement] Resolution (Belfast:
Blackstaff 1986); Florrie’s Girls (1989; Belfast: Blackstaff
1991) [young Irishwoman’s initiation into stresses and frustrations
of 18 yr.-old Cos, student nursing in postwar London]; Orange Horses
(1990; Belfast: Blackstaff 1991), stories [capturing hope, passions,
and despairs of women struggling with constraints of everyday life] [descriptive
comments from Blackstaff Catalogue, 1991].
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Criticism
John Bradbury, review of Orange Horses (1990), in Causeway (Summer
1994), p.81.
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Notes
Katie Donovan, AN Jeffares, and Brendan Kennelly, eds.,
Ireland’s Women (Dublin: G&M 1994), gives extract.
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Princess Grace Irish Library (Monaco)