The house in Clewe Street (Lavin) 266

I enjoyed Mary Lavin's Mary O'Grady earlier in the year, so was pleased to have the chance to read The house in Clewe Street which is similar in some ways. It's a family saga telling the story of three generations of the Coniffes who live in the tiny Irish village of Castlerampart.

We meet Theodor, a landlord, father to Therese, Sara, and Lily. His wife and their mother died giving birth to Lily, who was born 15 years after Sara; Lily was brought up mainly by Therese and Sara, much to their resentment. Lily marries while the other two remain spinsters but her husband Cornelius is tragically killed in an accident shortly before Lily discovers that she is pregannt. Her son Gabriel is the third generation. It's a gentle read, but still gripping - I was keen to see how the stories of the family members panned out.

It's just been published once by Virago, with this green cover. Unfortunately the copy I had from the library was a hardback published by Cedric Chivers, but since I work at the Bodleian which has most books published in England, I was able to at least have a look at the original green one! 3*.

Mary O'Grady (Lavin) 209

Mary O'Grady has been waiting for some time since I picked it up in a charity shop as being a lovely old green VMC whose author I had not come across before. What a wonderful treat I had in store. This was the story of Mary and her family, who live in Dublin at the start of the 20th century. Mary longs to keep her family close to her, because they are the pivot around which her life turns, but as they grow up, they seek their freedom. One son goes abroad to America, another to a seminary to train as a priest, two daughters die tragically young, and Mary has to come to terms with the fact that she cannot hold onto her family.

A simply told domestic drama with a number of storylines, this was a gem that I definitely would not have come across had it not been for its green spine.

Just the one green-spined cover above.