A time outworn

by Val Mulkerns

Valentine’s Day 2025 marks the centenary of the birth of Irish writer Val Mulkerns, and to celebrate, 451 Editions brings out a special edition of her first novel, A Time Outworn. It’s the story of Maeve, an unconventional young woman coming of age in post-Second World War Ireland. The New York Times praised it as “written in a cool and lovely prose”. The Irish Times called it “a sensitive, intelligent first novel”. This anniversary edition will have a foreword by Carlo Gébler, and an introduction drawn from Mulkerns’s late 1940s diaries, written by her daughter Maev Kennedy. Val Mulkerns went on to write ten more books, becoming a renowned voice in Irish literature, and a member of Aosdána (The Affiliation of Creative Artists in Ireland). Her most recent publications were Memory and Desire (collected short stories) and an elegant memoir, Friends with the Enemy, (2017).

Hardcover

Published January 1, 1951

Reviews

[Stephen Donnelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

A story rich with heart, depth, as well as tangible friendships and relationships; it subtly touches on the full emotional spectrum of the human experience. It manages all this while being neither contrived nor over complicated, and while also ably bringing to the fore a diverse range of Irish voices that is actually quite rare to find. I really enjoyed this.

[Eimear Carney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Set in 1940’s Ireland, Maeve Cusuck has finished her leaving cert and she and her friends wait for their results during a lazy summer in Dublin. Beautiful descriptive prose brings to life a time, place, historical context and the restrictive societal norms, especially as placed on young women. The book moves to small town Ireland where twitching curtains follow the comings and goings of the town. As relationships form and others dissolve, we follow Maeve through this coming of age first novel by Val Mulkerns. Loved it.