Maureen McCarthy (1) (1953–)

Maureen McCarthy is one of the few authors whose protagonists are generally aged in their late teens or early twenties, embarking on university or finding their way in the first years after leaving school. I started university about the time Queen Kat, Carmel & St. Jude Get A Life was published (it has been republished this year by Allen & Unwin) and loved the book, quickly devouring the rest of her backlist soon after. It has been a while now since I have read anything by the author but I show more was thrilled to receive The Convent for review. Though The Convent is labeled as young adult fiction, I feel the novel will appeal to a much broader age range of women. A thoughtful, intriguing and heartfelt story, it explores the experiences of four generations of women whose fates are linked to the Abbotsford Convent.

Nineteen year old Peach (Perpetua) has always admired the Abbotsford Convent's grandeur, now home to artists studio space, boutique stores and the cafe at which Peach works, but she was unaware of it's personal significance. Adopted at birth, it isn't until Peach receives a letter from her biological grandmother, Ellen, that she learns her grandmother was raised there and her birth mother, Cecilia, once served as a nun within the Enclosed order. While Peach struggles to come to terms with the unexpected information about her past, it is her present that she is most concerned with. Her sister is depressed, her best friend is pregnant and she is still reeling after a messy break up.

As Peach navigates her way through her changing world, McCarthy traces Peach's lineage and their connection to the convent. Sadie was declared an unfit mother in 1915 after her husband abandoned her and her daughter Ellen taken from her to be raised in Abbotsford. Ellen spent her entire childhood as a ward of the nuns before marrying and her daughter, Cecilia pledged her life to God's service as a young woman. The author shares snippets of these women's lives and their hopes, dreams and regrets with alternating chapters.

Through the the women's stories, McCarthy also traces the changing social and moral landscape for women over the century. Attitudes to women's rights, motherhood, marriage and sexuality have shifted seismically in the last one hundred years and the author acknowledges the evolution without any feminist rant.

McCarthy admits that she has a very personal connection to this story. Most significantly McCarthy's own mother was raised in the Abbotsford Convent after being made a ward of the state at age 3 and while she rarely spoke about her time there, McCarthy was always fascinated by her mother's early life. McCarthy's interest in her characters and their experiences is evident in the care in which she has constructed the story.

The Convent is a wonderful story, an easy read but with surprising depth for the thoughtful reader to ruminate on. This is a great choice for any Australian Women Writer Challenge participants given the relevance of its themes. show less

Rose By Any Other Name is largely a road story. In it, Rose O’Neil and her mother are driving from Melbourne to the Victorian coastal town of Port Fairy to see Rose’s dying grandmother one last time. Along the way, through flashbacks, Rose remembers the last time she was travelling this way -- and why her best friend is no longer talking to her. Rose knows that she was in the wrong, but has her own troubles.
For starters, after a long and seemingly-perfect marriage, her father, a social show more justice lawyer, has suddenly announced he’s leaving his wife and family. Her mother has gone into a fit of depression and Rose and her sisters have no idea how to handle it. And, yes, Rose’s best friend, Zoe, appears to be making a play for a guy Rose considers to be hers. What Zoe has done to Rose however, is nothing at all compared with what Rose ends up doing to Zoe - having a secret affair with Zoe’s father. show less

Cross My Heart is the story of a 17 year old girl from a country-family who runs away from home after deciding that she doesn’t want to marry her boyfriend as is expected of her just because she is pregnant (she was never asked about the marriage, he just asked her parents and it was excepted that she would accept the situation), and an ex-crim in his early twenties who has just got out of jail on good behaviour. Both looking for work. He offers her a lift on his bike to save her being show more picked up by a group of guys he knows is danger and they end up riding across half of Australia.
It sounds odd, but it was really interesting. It's about two people’s struggle to find work; their relationship interactions are more to do with not knowing whether they can trust the other person, they both come from backgrounds of abuse and don’t have a family behind them when they desperately need it. When do you step in when someone else is beating up their child? What do you have to offer a child of your own when you’re seventeen and practically destitute? It also challenged stereotypes a bit - the most supportive, compassionate, together, humane character that provides the support both Michelle and Mick really need and is practically unflappable is an ex-crim himself.
The story is also interesting in the way it is told, as some of it is from Michelle’s first person, some Mick’s first person and some third person narrator, and also because of the way much of the characters' histories are not revealed until later on.

It was incredibly captivating, very real and I couldn’t get it out of my head. Definitely one I’d recommend. Not a happy story, but it has a hopeful ending show less

Three years ago Tom’s best friend Jonty was arrested for killing his aunt Lillian. Tom's father was the lawyer who got Jonty released as there was no evidence and the police case fell apart. Jonty doesn’t remember what happened.

Now Jonty, Tom and Lillian's daughter, Alice, are all back in the town where the murder occurred. Jonty is determined to find out the truth of what happened that night and prove his innocence once and for all.
The book opens with someone crying, and it seems that show more somebody is crying at some point throughout the book. The story is told in the present, with a healthy number of flashbacks looking at the story from all three points of view. Each of the characters are all connected to Lillian - and treat each other with suspicion and feel guilt for witholding information from police.

Despite the fact that it is technically a good plot, with characters whom seem almost real at times, this book just didn't sustain my attention. I liked Jonty - but found the whole Tom and Alice thing to be slightly...well...sick, considering his feelings about Lillian. In the end I found it easy to put the book down and walk away for a day or so before picking it up again. The finish of the book, where all is revealed, is huge, emotional and climatic - then it just stops right there amid all the emotional. An epilogue follows but this comes almost an afterthought, as if the author decided that readers need closure so popped this last bit in. SOMEBODY'S CRYING is not as good as some of Maureen McCarthy's work such as the brilliant QUEEN KAT, CARMEL AND ST JUDE GET A LIFE. show less