An Arrow in Flight: Selected Stories of Mary Lavin

by Mary Lavin, Colm Tóibín (Introduction)

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 Tóibín.

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 Tóibín. 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.

Genres: Short Stories, Ireland, Fiction, Irish Literature

416 pages, Paperback

Published March 3, 2026

Reviews

[emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

reading forgotten authors is so special.

mini reviews for each story:


TRASTEVERE
oh, to be a beautiful outspoken girl with a great job who makes all the dinners awkward by making fun of her husband...
rating: 4


IN THE MIDDLE OF THE FIELDS
this story of farms and first wives and meadows and nightgowns and minor betrayals is so removed from my life it might as well be fantasy.
rating: 4


A MEMORY
this is the exact fate every man perpetuating a situationship should be sentenced to.
rating: 3.5


A CUP OF TEA
mother daughter relationships be like that.
rating: 3.5


A STORY WITH A PATTERN
if a guy came up to me at a party and said "hey your work sucks" i would never ever let him tell me a 40 minute story.
rating: 3


THE BIG WAVE
this is about fishing, but more so about Greed and Destiny and Human Nature. the usual suspects.
rating: 3.5


IN A CAFE
widow meetup.
rating: 3.5


ASIGH
i have read enough to know that mary lavin is incredibly adept with loneliness.
rating: 4


HAPPINESS
between this and fleabag and minor black figures and notes on your sudden disappearance...am i boring for never having had a semi-romance with a priest?
rating: 3.5


THE YELLOW BERET
this is the level of creativity my anxiety drives me to.
rating: 3.5


CHAMOIS GLOVES
i always forget people can just...become nuns.
rating: 3.5


THE LONG AGO
somehow this story about two widows who try to sympathize with and validate their spinster friend is so relatable. everyone knows someone who packed their bags and moved into the past.
rating: 4


AT SALLYGAP
oh, this was very depressing. of the cold-lonely-life-stoner-by-john-williams style that i hate to love.
rating: 4


SARAH
another depressing one. mary lavin loves to end a story with an inane sentence that actually has layers of meaning obvious only in context. it's like a riddle.
rating: 3.5


THE HAYMAKING
this is such a cautionary tale to me. i didn't have any plans to marry a grumpy farmer i barely know and move to the country, but now i definitely never will.
rating: 3.5


THE CUCKOO SPIT
may december.
rating: 4


OVERALL
these were — almost uniformly — simple, lovely, unassuming stories. it was a pleasure to read this collection.
rating: 4


(thanks to the publisher for the arc)

[Bill Hsu · Rating 3 out of 5]

The writing is strong for what the author is trying to do, and I appreciate the quiet (and not so quiet) feminist statements. But I'm not sure I need 300+ pages of this.

[Rebel Reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an interesting collection of short stories. I haven’t read too much Irish literature and I’m glad I did. The stories are simple and direct, and some are somewhat intriguing. I have to say I enjoyed the second half more, especially the last 4 stories. There was just something about them that pulled me in and left me wanting more. These are mostly about relationships and the ups and downs of human attachment.

[TJ Sweet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of stories. I often find it hard to get into Short Story collections, but there were a ton of gems in this one. I really enjoy Lavin’s prose. It’s accessible and easy to get absorbed in. This was an engaging read, and a great way to cap my reading challenge!

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mary Lavin’s stories represent a quiet but attentive exploration of ordinary life in mid-20th century Ireland, where the smallest domestic moments carry emotional and moral weight. She returns again and again to the textures of family life—conversations in kitchens, unspoken resentments, fleeting gestures of care—capturing a world that feels both intimate and socially constrained.

Many of the stories unfold against the subtle tension between rural life and the pull of Dublin, a divide that mirrors larger questions about tradition, independence, and change. Within this setting, Lavin’s protagonists are often women—navigating loss, autonomy, and social expectation. Despite many being widows, Lavin avoids reducing them to a single type. Instead, these women emerge as complex figures, sometimes resilient, sometimes uncertain, always shaped by the quiet pressures of their circumstances.

The collection’s title, “An Arrow in Flight,” offers a useful lens for understanding Lavin’s approach. An arrow, once released, cannot be recalled; it exists in a state of motion, its destination is determined but not yet realized. Her stories often capture lives in similar moments—mid-transition, suspended between past and future, without a clear resolution.

This helps explain the collection’s resistance to neat endings. Many of the stories close without clear lessons or dramatic conclusions, which can feel disorienting at first. But this lack of resolution seems central to Lavin’s vision: life, as she renders it, rarely provides tidy meanings. Instead, she leaves us with partial insights, emotional undercurrents, and the sense that something significant has occurred, even if it cannot be easily named.

This collection accumulates power gradually. Rather than delivering decisive statements, Lavin offers glimpses—precise, humane, and often haunting—into the inner lives of ordinary people. She trusts her readers to follow the arrow’s flight.

[Em Drown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reading An Arrow in Flight by Mary Lavin is a peek into Irish culture with stories of family, love, duty and sacrifice. Lavin often writes of widows who want to remain independent but struggle with memories of the past with their former loved one. Misunderstandings happen, widowhood is touched on as well as grief and small moments, memories and honesty matters. “I sometimes think love has nothing to do with people at all. … It’s like the weather.” She writes about the rural countryside often, as well as nature. “…small birds, plump and round, were everywhere dropping to the ground like apples. On the grass starlings and sparrows ran about like children, as if for once the earth was sweeter than the sky.” There were times when I was reading a short story in this book and delighted in her descriptive imagery. Feelings can be as heavy as the weather in the air, often shaped by quiet tension and restraint; happiness can be fleeting, and as the story progresses, things become more murky, like a foggy mist in the early morning.

[Matt Watts · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars. It’s a quiet book of stories from the country around Dublin, not my usual cup of tea. But something about the way Lavin is able to draw characters and their desires so clearly in so few words, and the way she moves between characters, between exposition and scene, between modes of storytelling is so clean and clear, it’s impossible not to be impressed. Not all of the stories wowed me, and I didn’t particularly connect with any of the characters, but I could see them all so clearly. Quite a writer.

[JXR · Rating 4 out of 5]

pretty great set of works with some good plotting and good vibes throughout. I loved the writing style on some, though others were a little weaker. Some are also a hair dated in style, which makes sense as Ms. Lavin died in the 90s. 4 stars. tysm for the arc.

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[Rhonda Lomazow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mary Lavins short stories are so beautifully written so involving,introducing characters living emotional complicated lives.This is the first time I have read anything by this author ,Colin Tobin wrote the introduction to this collection sharing with us facts about the author life and her stories absolutely fascinating .

[Joann · Rating 3 out of 5]

Colm Toibin, one of my favorite authors wrote the forward to this collection of short stories so I thought I would enjoy reading them. And I did, some of them, but I tired of the sameness that eventually resulted. Still, it’s beneficial to read works published some years ago.

[Susan Walker · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has sixteen stories from Irish author Mary Lavin. The stories based in Ireland and fascinating and make a great read.

[Casey Haas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Are Irish women the best writers?

[Chandni · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a mixed book of short stories and I enjoyed some better than others. However, none were especially memorable.

[Amari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Spectacular.