Mother of Pearl

Set in Ireland in the 1950s, this well-written, lyrical, and terribly sad novel is the story of Irene Rivers, who, at the age of 18, is sent away to a sanitarium to recover from tuberculosis. Long after Irene is cured, she stays on at Granitefields, which she regards as home. But when an act of kindness on Irene’s part is misunderstood, she escapes by marrying the son of another patient and moving to Dublin with him. When Irene tells her impotent husband, Stanley Goodman, that she is pregnant, he inexplicably believes her. Like a rock gathering destructive force as it hurtles downhill, this one act of deception sets in motion events with lifelong repercussions for three women: Irene, the baby named Pearl, and Pearl’s mother, Rita Golden. Skillfully shifting narrative perspectives between the three, Morrissy forces the reader to acknowledge that their subsequent actions, which include a kidnapping, an abortion, and having an imaginary child, though bizarre, are, in the end, all too understandable. This novel, Morrissy’s first book to appear in the U.S., will leave readers pondering the inevitability of events and wondering which of the characters deserves their pity more.