I found this book by wandering around the library picking up thing that looked interesting. I used to do that when I was a kid and it is still the most rewarding way I find good things to read. I am off of work this week and with the kids at school and spouse at work, I can enjoying reading all day if I feel like it.
This was a collection of short stories taking place in Ireland. Most of the main characters were tough, interesting women. Although each character suffered adversity, they all seemed to have secret hidden weapons. Life is hard in these stories. Viewing one hardship after another (because that is how you view a collection of short stories) left me feeling a bit gritty and blue.
Night of the Quicken Trees was my favorite story. It read like a song. A young girl named Margaret has a priest's baby (he was also her cousin) and the baby dies of SIDS. She loses her fertility and most of her mind after that. Not much is told about her youth, but when she is not quite 40 the priest dies and leaves her his house. It is really a duplex and they guy living on the other side is really a hoot. He has never been with a woman and his main relationship is with a goat named Josephine. Loving him and joining the houses into one restores her fertility and she has another baby. Margaret eventually leaves this place with her son when the local people turn unfriendly. The boy's father does not go with them. Doom and heartache again.
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