Kirjahaku

One of the great overlooked voices of modern Irish literature, once hailed as "magnificent" by The New York Times, Mary Lavin's fiction is now being revived for a new generation of readers in this definitive volume, selected and introduced by Colm T ib n. During her lifetime, Irish American writer Mary Lavin was a prominent literary figure. Throughout the 1940s, '50s, and '60s, her stories were frequently featured in The New Yorker, compared to the works of Chekhov, James, and Wharton, and celebrated in major publications, ranging from The New York Times to The Irish Times. Lavin won prestigious awards, such as the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Katherine Mansfield Prize, and her influence extends to many of today's great fiction writers. Yet, despite her incredible success, Lavin's once acclaimed body of work has largely fallen out of print, lost and erased from the canon. Now, An Arrow in Flight brings together sixteen of Lavin's most powerful stories, selected and introduced by Colm T ib n. In witty and sharp prose, these tales explore familial tensions, relationships between men and women, and the social mores and biases of 20th-century Irish society, from the streets of Dublin to the fields of County Meath. Essential for any fan of contemporary Irish literature, An Arrow in Flight shines a much-needed light on "a master of the genre" (Los Angeles Times) who has, for too long, remained in the shadows.

Mary O'Grady, an Irish peasant woman, discovers that motherhood brings her sorrow as it does joy.'Beautifully and insightfully captured the reality of rural Ireland, just as remote working renews village life' IRISH INDEPENDENT 'An impressive body of work' IRISH TIMES'There's the immense power with which she depicts the inner lives of women' PARIS REVIEW In the early 1900s, Mary O'Grady leaves behind the countryside and the family she cares for, to be with her husband in Dublin. Here she puts down new roots and looks forward to the day when she will return to Tullamore with her own sons and daughters. Marriage and motherhood sustain Mary, gradually the memories of her own childhood fade and her life revolves around the secure home she has created. But as her children grow, they seek the freedom of adults as she had done. Slowly Mary comes to realise that a mother's love cannot protect them, as it could not protect herself from the sorrows and tragedies of life.

This absorbing family saga, first published in 1945, reveals the poignancies of an Irish Catholic upbringing, and is a testimony to Mary Lavin's considerable power as a storyteller.Theodore Coniffe, austere property owner in Castlerampart, looks forward to the birth of an heir when his third and youngest daughter, Lily, marries. A son is born, but the father, Cornelius Galloway, is a spendthrift who dies young, leaving the child to the care of Lily and her sisters, Theresa and Sara. Their love for Gabriel is limited by religious propriety and his youth is both protected and restrained. At the age of twenty-one Gabriel runs away to Dublin with Onny, a kitchen maid. Here they tumble into bohemian life. But Gabriel is ill-suited to this makeshift freedom and finds the values of Clewe Street impossible to evade.

'Mary Lavin's stories... are subtle without making a palaver about it, beautifully told, no pat endings, no slickness; and as in life, nothing is resolved.' William TrevorFirst published in 1943, Tales from Bective Bridge is a collection of ten stories that memorably depict the rural mid-lands of Ireland and their people. Mary Lavin, though American-born, grew up in Athenry; and though the Irish short story was a dauntingly well-established form she succeeded in reinventing it with this, her debut collection, winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, which exhibits a Chekhovian gift for the meaning of small things, contrary behaviours and emotions. This 2012 edition, reissued for the centenary of Mary Lavin's birth, includes an introduction by Evelyn Conlon. 'One of modern Irish fiction's most subversive voices... [Lavin's] art explored often brutal tensions, disappointments and frustrations dictating the relationships within so-called 'normal' families.' Eileen Battersby, Irish Times

Mary Lavin is the great unsung voice of Irish fiction. Here are her very best, most electric stories: illuminating, moving, arrows in flight.SELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY COLM TÓIBÍNMary Lavin’s stories feature ordinary people in the tight confines of ordinary life. From rural Ireland and the streets of Dublin they charm, irritate and intrigue in complicated brilliance, appearing to us with unique freshness. Good friendships, bad deeds, frustrations, missteps, hope and laughter are all found in captivating stories where real and astonishing things happen.Few women were so consistently published in the New Yorker and yet today Lavin’s work is largely unpublished and overlooked. This collection re-establishes her as one of the most genius, irresistible and memorable voices of the last century.SELECTED AND INTRODUCED BY COLM TOÍBÍN‘She is, to come right out with it, magnificent’ New York Times‘Mary Lavin’s stories are a delight. They are delicate, but not too delicate to carry tragedy on one shoulder and comedy on the other’ Sunday Times ‘Lavin writes like a dream’ New York Times Book Review

Mary Lavin is ranked amongst the greatest short-story writers of the twentieth century, and remains a titan of Irish literature. First published in 1967, In the Middle of the Fields explores lives that are multi-layered and secretive, peculiar and intimate, and offers a window into the quiet tragedies and joys of human life. This collection is a profound example of Lavin’s unique control, insight and subtlety. For the first time in decades, and with an introduction by Colm Tóibín, the Modern Irish Classics series brings this hallmark collection to a new generation of readers.

Comprising four long stories – ‘The Becker Wives’, ‘The Joy Ride’, ‘A Happy Death’ and ‘Magenta’ – this collection is one of Lavin’s most celebrated. Together, these stories capture the frustrations and grace of characters struggling to free themselves in places that are often hostile to their desires: a new bride coming home to her husband’s prim family, two butlers taking a rare opportunity to go out drinking, a woman pleading with her dying husband to repent, and a young housekeeper whose fortunes seem to have suddenly changed. For the first time in decades, and with a foreword by Christine Dwyer Hickey, the Modern Irish Classics series brings this vital collection to a new generation of readers.