What do you think?
Rate this book
The Catholic Woman's Dying Wish
PERFECT FOR FANS OF JOJO MOYES, MARIAN KEYES & SHARI LOW. Forget hearts & flowers and happy ever afters in this laugh out loud bunions & warts love story!
Middle aged Darius can’t seem to hold onto the good relationships in his life; now, he discovers a devastating truth about his family that blows away his future and forces him to revisit his painful past. Unable to solve the family saga his Catholic mother presents to him, he decides to distract himself with online dating…and discovers a prime candidate in Faye. A widow and mother of three, Faye is still recovering from an abusive marriage that destroyed her confidence. Will this be a partnership of doom or fireworks in the bedroom department? Faye is about to find out the horrors and demons lurking behind the man she thinks she loves but cannot predict her children' response to him.
The follow on book is 'Every Family Has One' and Warrington's other books are 'Holiday' and 'Every Mother's Fear.
338 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 13, 2015
95 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Joanna Warrington
24 books21 followersJoanna Warrington is a divorced mother to three children. Two have flown the nest. She has written seven books and writing is now firmly in her blood. She began writing as a cathartic exercise when her first child died and it snowballed from there.
She lives in West Sussex England and is a frequent visitor to various local cafes where she enjoys reading and eating cake.
She lives in West Sussex England and is a frequent visitor to various local cafes where she enjoys reading and eating cake.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
October 16, 2015
DO NOT be put off by the cover, this is a cracking read. I must admit I wouldn’t have chosen this book by cover alone, which shows a rather forlorn young girl sitting in a flowery meadow contemplating ….. well, I don’t know, emo or grunge or folk revival music or something. Anyway, guarantee this little chick’s going to grow up to be a beatnik, living in Haight Ashbury, driving a hand-painted split-screen VW Kombi and listening to The Grateful Dead.
None of which has anything to do with ‘The Catholic Woman’s Dying Wish,’ which thankfully was recommended by a friend. From the cover, I’d expected a poetry book on vegetarianism and Eastern philosophy, but I was pleasantly surprised. We have a totally dysfunctional family and a bunch of completely flawed characters – every last one of them. I loved it!
Ernest Hemingway, in a letter to his father, once said, “You see I’m trying in all my stories to get the feeling of the actual life across – not to just depict life – or criticize it – but to actually make it alive. So when you read something by me you actually experience the thing. You can’t do this without putting in the bad and the ugly as well as what is beautiful. Because if it is all beautiful you can’t believe it. Things aren’t that way.” And that is exactly what Joanna Warrington has done here. Her sex scenes are failures more than happy triumphs. No tedious sex Gods with rippling muscles here. Darius is fat, ugly, hairy, wears a wig and has a very small penis that doesn’t always function. Faye, in turn, is no great beauty. Just a mousy little woman who after giving birth to three kids still has tight enough genitalia to accommodate Darius’ insignificant, little phallus.
I liked Darius and loathed him in equal measure, as I’m sure Faye does. I enjoyed the fact that his views are not socially acceptable – especially when it comes down to his gay son, Sam – and his disrespect for just about everyone, but I detested the way his speaks to Faye’s children. When all’s said and done he’s an arsehole, which of course makes for a great book.
This is actually a very clever tale because there are sub-plots hidden beneath sub-plots which in turn are buried beneath other story lines. The Catholic Woman is Darius’ mother who unforgivably sent her pregnant 14-year-old daughter away to the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland. These were ‘houses’ run by the Roman Catholic Church for ‘fallen women’ and Kathleen never returned. Darius has been tasked with the burden of finding his sister, a duty which he couldn’t care less about, and as he sets out on this assignment with Faye he’s plagued by his own demons, as he’s haunted by memories of the Catholic priest who sexually abused him as a child. Do you see what I mean by flawed characters?
The message in the book is clear, of course. Not only does Joanna Warrington bring to light the plight of the 30,000 women who were confined and abused – mentally, physically and emotionally - in these institutions from the 18th century to the late 20th century (A mass grave containing 155 corpses was uncovered in the convent grounds of one of the Laundries in 1993, leading to a formal state apology in 2013 and a £50 million compensation scheme for survivors, to which the Catholic Church has refused to contribute), but the storyline discuss mental health issues in a variety of formats.
This is brave of the author because there’s a taboo about mental health that doesn’t often lead to open discussion. Apparently one in four people in the UK experience what are known as Common Mental Health Problems (CMHP) in their life. CMHPs are defined as “when you have feelings of extreme sadness, despair or inadequacy that last for a long time,” and that describes just about everyone in the book. But no one should imagine that is in any way indicative of a depressing read, because its not. The book is pebble-dashed with humour, and is what I would call one of those can’t-wait-to-get-back-to-my-book books.
Will Darius find Kathleen? Will Faye continue to meekly accept the way he treats her children? Will she deal with her own guilt about the affair that drove her husband to commit suicide? Will Darius finally accept his son’s sexuality? Will he finally deal with the paedophile priest in his head? And will his mother die before she lays eyes on her daughter one more time?
Well, if you’ve read this far in this review, you’d now better buy the book to find out for yourself. I thoroughly recommend it.
Oh, and one last thing. Warrington’s description of the death scene as the body goes through the process of shutting down is indicative of a rare talent who has much more to give. I’ll be watching for more works by this talented author.
None of which has anything to do with ‘The Catholic Woman’s Dying Wish,’ which thankfully was recommended by a friend. From the cover, I’d expected a poetry book on vegetarianism and Eastern philosophy, but I was pleasantly surprised. We have a totally dysfunctional family and a bunch of completely flawed characters – every last one of them. I loved it!
Ernest Hemingway, in a letter to his father, once said, “You see I’m trying in all my stories to get the feeling of the actual life across – not to just depict life – or criticize it – but to actually make it alive. So when you read something by me you actually experience the thing. You can’t do this without putting in the bad and the ugly as well as what is beautiful. Because if it is all beautiful you can’t believe it. Things aren’t that way.” And that is exactly what Joanna Warrington has done here. Her sex scenes are failures more than happy triumphs. No tedious sex Gods with rippling muscles here. Darius is fat, ugly, hairy, wears a wig and has a very small penis that doesn’t always function. Faye, in turn, is no great beauty. Just a mousy little woman who after giving birth to three kids still has tight enough genitalia to accommodate Darius’ insignificant, little phallus.
I liked Darius and loathed him in equal measure, as I’m sure Faye does. I enjoyed the fact that his views are not socially acceptable – especially when it comes down to his gay son, Sam – and his disrespect for just about everyone, but I detested the way his speaks to Faye’s children. When all’s said and done he’s an arsehole, which of course makes for a great book.
This is actually a very clever tale because there are sub-plots hidden beneath sub-plots which in turn are buried beneath other story lines. The Catholic Woman is Darius’ mother who unforgivably sent her pregnant 14-year-old daughter away to the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland. These were ‘houses’ run by the Roman Catholic Church for ‘fallen women’ and Kathleen never returned. Darius has been tasked with the burden of finding his sister, a duty which he couldn’t care less about, and as he sets out on this assignment with Faye he’s plagued by his own demons, as he’s haunted by memories of the Catholic priest who sexually abused him as a child. Do you see what I mean by flawed characters?
The message in the book is clear, of course. Not only does Joanna Warrington bring to light the plight of the 30,000 women who were confined and abused – mentally, physically and emotionally - in these institutions from the 18th century to the late 20th century (A mass grave containing 155 corpses was uncovered in the convent grounds of one of the Laundries in 1993, leading to a formal state apology in 2013 and a £50 million compensation scheme for survivors, to which the Catholic Church has refused to contribute), but the storyline discuss mental health issues in a variety of formats.
This is brave of the author because there’s a taboo about mental health that doesn’t often lead to open discussion. Apparently one in four people in the UK experience what are known as Common Mental Health Problems (CMHP) in their life. CMHPs are defined as “when you have feelings of extreme sadness, despair or inadequacy that last for a long time,” and that describes just about everyone in the book. But no one should imagine that is in any way indicative of a depressing read, because its not. The book is pebble-dashed with humour, and is what I would call one of those can’t-wait-to-get-back-to-my-book books.
Will Darius find Kathleen? Will Faye continue to meekly accept the way he treats her children? Will she deal with her own guilt about the affair that drove her husband to commit suicide? Will Darius finally accept his son’s sexuality? Will he finally deal with the paedophile priest in his head? And will his mother die before she lays eyes on her daughter one more time?
Well, if you’ve read this far in this review, you’d now better buy the book to find out for yourself. I thoroughly recommend it.
Oh, and one last thing. Warrington’s description of the death scene as the body goes through the process of shutting down is indicative of a rare talent who has much more to give. I’ll be watching for more works by this talented author.
September 8, 2015
I enjoyed this book very much. This is a story about a search for a daughter long since given up on to some extent but never forgotten. For those unfamiliar with the stories of the Magdalene Laundries in Ireland, they were places where young girls were sent when they became pregnant out of wedlock and many terrible tales have come to light about what happened there particularly in the 1960's 1970's although they existed I believe, from at least the turn of the century if not before. While there have been many true stories written about such places, here we have a clever fictional account using the heart-breaking story of a mother who lost contact with her daughter in 1974 when she entered such an establishment and the story picks up thirty five years on as she tries to find her once more. I won't plot spoil, but the title gives you the general idea and in order to achieve this, Maria employs her son to assist in finding her daughter. Darius is flawed and struggling himself, not just with relationships but life in general. The story moves along very nicely and kept me engaged throughout with perhaps a minor personal dislike for the use of character names as headers repeatedly to guide the reader perhaps. For me it was a distraction rather than the guide I assumed it to be, but nonetheless this is partly what made this a 4 rather than 5 star read for me. This is of course very much a personal criticism but I include it here to explain the rating given. Having said that, this Is a book well worth reading. I kind of got where it was going early on but I believe this is intentional and it worked for me. How it resolves is of course all important and you'll have to read to the end to discover the outcome for yourself. Enjoyable, engaging and entertaining, I enjoyed this tale from a time an place I am very much familiar with. I know from the end that there is a sequel and it is a book I for one will add to my reading list.
December 17, 2024
Okay… I have read lots of this author’s books and I usually love them, but I nearly DNF’d this one, it’s taken me over 2 weeks to get through it! There was something to offend everyone in this book and the characters were either vile or weak, with constant toilet humour 🤢 it wasn’t funny and they irritated me so much! I’ll save my more in depth thoughts with spoilers for my reading journal, such a shame as I do usually like this author a lot. This book was so jarring to read, it had a lot of errors missed during the editing process and only the last few chapters reminded me of the author I’ve enjoyed other books by.
July 22, 2022
A very good read about a mother wanting to trace her daughter who she sent to the Magdalene laundries because she had gotten pregnant at 14 years of age now years later the mother is dying and hasn’t seen or heard from her daughter since she went away, given the job of trying to trace the daughter Darious her son has his own hang ups I wasn’t keen on his vulgar sense of humour and his fowl tongue.
April 4, 2022
Vile book with a misleading description saying based on Irish history. It was badly edited and painful to read but not due to the so called history which only got mentioned in approx 4 chapters out of 40. The rest was just pointless and crude for no reason.
June 13, 2022
Intrigued
O
I was amazed at the depth.I felt anger at the Catholic church .am looking forward to the next book. There are
lessons to learn !
O
I was amazed at the depth.I felt anger at the Catholic church .am looking forward to the next book. There are
lessons to learn !
February 9, 2025
Gripping
So good! Enlightening, gripping, hooked from page one. The books 📚 are woven together so well. Highly recommend! Great reading.
So good! Enlightening, gripping, hooked from page one. The books 📚 are woven together so well. Highly recommend! Great reading.
March 31, 2025
discrepancies
I read all three books and nowhere did it join all the dots up.
It could have woven the story more to say how they knew the things that happened
I read all three books and nowhere did it join all the dots up.
It could have woven the story more to say how they knew the things that happened
November 24, 2015
A Touching and Humorous Story
When Kathleen was fourteen, she was assaulted and became pregnant. The last time Kathleen’s mother, Maria, saw her daughter was over thirty years ago when she sent the teenager to Magdalene laundry in Ireland to have the baby and give it up for adoption. Now the time period is in the 70s and Maria is dying. She feels remorse for what she did to her only daughter and wants Kathleen’s forgiveness, but first she has to find her. Maria solicits the help of her middle-aged son, Darius, who has problems of his own. Darius had been told that Kathleen ran off. When he learns the truth, he knows the rapist was the priest, the same man who had abused him and the man his mother believed could do no wrong. Before Darius sets out in search for Kathleen, he meets Faye online. Faye, a single mother of three small children and fifteen years younger than Darius, doesn’t find him at all physically appealing, yet there is something about Darius that attracts her. They have both struggled emotionally with relationships. Darius is rough around the edges and is very opinionated. Faye is mild spoken and unpleasant events haunt her past. Faye accompanies Darius in his pursuit to find Kathleen. Will they be able to work out their differences and be happy together? Will they be able to locate Kathleen before it’s too late for Darius’ mother?
The dialogue and inner thoughts in the bedroom scenes between Faye and Darius are hilarious. This is an engaging tale with memorable characters.
When Kathleen was fourteen, she was assaulted and became pregnant. The last time Kathleen’s mother, Maria, saw her daughter was over thirty years ago when she sent the teenager to Magdalene laundry in Ireland to have the baby and give it up for adoption. Now the time period is in the 70s and Maria is dying. She feels remorse for what she did to her only daughter and wants Kathleen’s forgiveness, but first she has to find her. Maria solicits the help of her middle-aged son, Darius, who has problems of his own. Darius had been told that Kathleen ran off. When he learns the truth, he knows the rapist was the priest, the same man who had abused him and the man his mother believed could do no wrong. Before Darius sets out in search for Kathleen, he meets Faye online. Faye, a single mother of three small children and fifteen years younger than Darius, doesn’t find him at all physically appealing, yet there is something about Darius that attracts her. They have both struggled emotionally with relationships. Darius is rough around the edges and is very opinionated. Faye is mild spoken and unpleasant events haunt her past. Faye accompanies Darius in his pursuit to find Kathleen. Will they be able to work out their differences and be happy together? Will they be able to locate Kathleen before it’s too late for Darius’ mother?
The dialogue and inner thoughts in the bedroom scenes between Faye and Darius are hilarious. This is an engaging tale with memorable characters.
September 28, 2015
IT TOOK A WHILE
This is a good book and I have read this author before. I only realized half way through that much of it was familiar, and checking back saw that this is a re-write of an earlier book, with the inclusion of the theme of the Magdalene Laundries – those places run by the Catholic church for wayward girls, and those who became pregnant before marriage. It’s a subject I am familiar with, having been threatened with being sent to one when I was a child. I never quite believed they existed until, as an adult, I saw the film and burst into tears. I was disappointed the book did not cover more of Kathleen’s story but I understand this is told in the second book. Which I will buy and read. I was not too keen on the main character, who has a vulgar sense of humour and a wicked tongue. I do want to find out what happens to them all.
This is a good book and I have read this author before. I only realized half way through that much of it was familiar, and checking back saw that this is a re-write of an earlier book, with the inclusion of the theme of the Magdalene Laundries – those places run by the Catholic church for wayward girls, and those who became pregnant before marriage. It’s a subject I am familiar with, having been threatened with being sent to one when I was a child. I never quite believed they existed until, as an adult, I saw the film and burst into tears. I was disappointed the book did not cover more of Kathleen’s story but I understand this is told in the second book. Which I will buy and read. I was not too keen on the main character, who has a vulgar sense of humour and a wicked tongue. I do want to find out what happens to them all.
December 2, 2015
This is an at-times dark, at-times delightful tapestry of stories with characters who harvest both their strengths and their demons from the Catholic faith. Warrington has created a compelling, heartbreaking and beautiful tale with wholly human characters that I loved, sometimes hated, sometimes both. This author truly shows the complex difficulties of lives tinged with abuse, heartbreak, and loss, as Darius, Faye, Maria, and others attempt to pick up the pieces and find purpose in spirituality and the promise of redemption. Warrington's novel balances the dark elements with sincerely funny moments, a wonderful mixture of drama and comedy. I deeply enjoyed this insightful and engaging novel and look forward to reading more from this talented author.
November 9, 2015
This is a lovely, unique read that tells the story of an ill, elderly woman who wants to find her daughter she sent away forty years earlier. The daughter was sent to a convent in Ireland that cared for unwed mothers and her mother hadn't heard from her since. The mother enlists the help of her middle-aged, self-absorbed, workaholic son who struggles from serious relationship issues. All in all, the book tells the tale of one mother's journey and her wish to reunite with her daughter. The book is well-written and unique, full of humor, spirit, wisdom and the trials of human nature.
A good read.
A good read.
June 16, 2016
Holy Mother of God! The old adage 'Catholic guilt' sure comes into play in this thought provoking story. How do you atone for your sins and past mistakes before you die? Maria enlists the help of her son Darius to find his sister (and Maria's daughter) Kathleen, who was given up years prior. Darius has his own imperfect past and as you get further into the book, you realize this is not the Cleaver family. The author did a wonderful job creating realistic characters and situations that everyone can relate to.
I'll 'confess' that I thoroughly enjoyed this journey!
I'll 'confess' that I thoroughly enjoyed this journey!
August 25, 2018
Really enjoyed this book. I would recommend this book
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews