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In a Café: Selected Stories
On an island teeming with masters of the short story, Mary Lavin's distinct voice and devoted following set her apart. Before her death in 1996, this Irish writer had received many honors and prizes not only for her luminous short stories but also for several highly regarded novels. William Trevor praised Lavin's ability to "make moments timeless, to illuminate people and places, words and things, by touching them with the magic of the rarely-gifted storyteller." In a Cafe makes available for the first time in the United States a collection of her most beloved pieces as compiled by her daughter. In masterworks such as the title story, an unsettling portrayal of widowhood, and "The Will," which Lavin considered the finest expression of her art, we recognize the justice in Trevor's declaration that "the short story of today owes her a very great debt."
"I envy the skill of Mary Lavin. . . . In her capacity to make much out of little, to compress an entire ethos into an apparently banal situation, she reminds us what literature is all about." --Anthony Burgess
"I cannot think of any Irish writer who has gone so profoundly without fear into the Irish heart." --V. S. Pritchett
"I envy the skill of Mary Lavin. . . . In her capacity to make much out of little, to compress an entire ethos into an apparently banal situation, she reminds us what literature is all about." --Anthony Burgess
"I cannot think of any Irish writer who has gone so profoundly without fear into the Irish heart." --V. S. Pritchett
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1985
6 people are currently reading
346 people want to read
About the author
Mary Josephine Lavin
43 books28 followersMary Josephine Lavin (10 June 1912 – 25 March 1996) was a noted Irish short story writer and novelist. She is regarded as a pioneering female author in the traditionally male-dominated world of Irish letters. Her subject matter often dealt explicitly with feminist issues and concerns at a time when the primacy of the Roman Catholic Church and its abuses (e.g. the Magdalene Laundries) impinged extensively on Irish society.
Mary Lavin was born in East Walpole, Massachusetts in 1912, the only child of Tom and Nora Lavin, an immigrant Irish couple. She attended primary school in East Walpole until the age of ten, when her mother decided to go back to Ireland. Initially, Mary and Nora lived with Nora's family in Athenry in County Galway. Afterwards, they bought a house in Dublin, and Mary's father, too, came back from America to join them.
Mary attended Loreto College, a convent school in Dublin, before going on to study English and French at University College Dublin (UCD). She taught French at Loreto College for a while. As a postgraduate student, she published her first short story, 'Miss Holland', which appeared in the Dublin Magazine in 1938. Tom Lavin then approached Lord Dunsany, the well-known Irish writer, on behalf of his daughter and asked him to read some of Mary's unpublished work. Suitably impressed, Lord Dunsany became Mary's literary mentor.
In 1943, Mary Lavin published her first book. Tales from Bective Bridge, a volume of ten short stories about life in rural Ireland, was a critical success and went on to win the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. That same year, Lavin married William Walsh, a Dublin lawyer. Over the next decade, the couple had three daughters and moved to "abbey farm" which they purchased in County Meath which included the land around Bective Abbey. Lavin's literary career flourished; she published several novels and collections of short stories during this period. Her first novel The House in Clewe Street was serialised in the Atlantic Monthly before its publication in book form in 1945.
In 1954, William Walsh died. Lavin, her reputation as a major writer already well-established, was left to confront her responsibilities alone. She raised her three daughters and kept the family farm going at the same time. She also managed to keep her literary career on track, continuing to publish short stories and winning several awards for her work, including the Katherine Mansfield Prize in 1961, Guggenheim Fellowships in 1959 and 1961, and an honorary doctorate from UCD in 1968. Some of her stories written during this period, dealing with the topic of widowhood, are acknowledged to be among her finest.
Lavin remarried in 1969. Michael Scott was an old friend from Mary's student days in University College. He had been a Jesuit priest in Australia, but had obtained release from his vows from Rome and returned to Ireland. The two remained together until Scott's death in 1991.
In 1992, Lavin, by now retired, was elected Saoi by the members of Aosdána for achieving 'singular and sustained distinction' in literature. Aosdána is an affiliation of creative artists in Ireland, and the title of Saoi one of the highest honours in Irish culture.
(from Wikipedia)
Mary Lavin was born in East Walpole, Massachusetts in 1912, the only child of Tom and Nora Lavin, an immigrant Irish couple. She attended primary school in East Walpole until the age of ten, when her mother decided to go back to Ireland. Initially, Mary and Nora lived with Nora's family in Athenry in County Galway. Afterwards, they bought a house in Dublin, and Mary's father, too, came back from America to join them.
Mary attended Loreto College, a convent school in Dublin, before going on to study English and French at University College Dublin (UCD). She taught French at Loreto College for a while. As a postgraduate student, she published her first short story, 'Miss Holland', which appeared in the Dublin Magazine in 1938. Tom Lavin then approached Lord Dunsany, the well-known Irish writer, on behalf of his daughter and asked him to read some of Mary's unpublished work. Suitably impressed, Lord Dunsany became Mary's literary mentor.
In 1943, Mary Lavin published her first book. Tales from Bective Bridge, a volume of ten short stories about life in rural Ireland, was a critical success and went on to win the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction. That same year, Lavin married William Walsh, a Dublin lawyer. Over the next decade, the couple had three daughters and moved to "abbey farm" which they purchased in County Meath which included the land around Bective Abbey. Lavin's literary career flourished; she published several novels and collections of short stories during this period. Her first novel The House in Clewe Street was serialised in the Atlantic Monthly before its publication in book form in 1945.
In 1954, William Walsh died. Lavin, her reputation as a major writer already well-established, was left to confront her responsibilities alone. She raised her three daughters and kept the family farm going at the same time. She also managed to keep her literary career on track, continuing to publish short stories and winning several awards for her work, including the Katherine Mansfield Prize in 1961, Guggenheim Fellowships in 1959 and 1961, and an honorary doctorate from UCD in 1968. Some of her stories written during this period, dealing with the topic of widowhood, are acknowledged to be among her finest.
Lavin remarried in 1969. Michael Scott was an old friend from Mary's student days in University College. He had been a Jesuit priest in Australia, but had obtained release from his vows from Rome and returned to Ireland. The two remained together until Scott's death in 1991.
In 1992, Lavin, by now retired, was elected Saoi by the members of Aosdána for achieving 'singular and sustained distinction' in literature. Aosdána is an affiliation of creative artists in Ireland, and the title of Saoi one of the highest honours in Irish culture.
(from Wikipedia)
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
January 9, 2022
Promedio: 3.3
Tenía años queriendo leer a Lavin, (no es de extrañar mi afición por la literatura Irlandesa)- y me he encontrado con unos cuentos que reflejan esa vida en el campo de sus personajes, esa Irlanda Rural, llena de costumbres y nostálgia. Esa emigración a La América y el recuerdo de su patria.
He de decir que en su mayoría los cuentos me gustaron, algunos más que otros, es solo que el cierre de cada cuento desfallecia toda la narración, y eso le resto muchísimo; esto es algo que intenta argumentar Lavin, en su cuento: Una historia con estructura, aún así me hubiese gustado que el final de algunos cuentos los dejase con frases abiertas si no había más solución, pero bueno, Lavin es dueña de sus cuentos y sus recuerdos.
No ha estado mal para ser mi primer acercamiento con ella.
Tenía años queriendo leer a Lavin, (no es de extrañar mi afición por la literatura Irlandesa)- y me he encontrado con unos cuentos que reflejan esa vida en el campo de sus personajes, esa Irlanda Rural, llena de costumbres y nostálgia. Esa emigración a La América y el recuerdo de su patria.
He de decir que en su mayoría los cuentos me gustaron, algunos más que otros, es solo que el cierre de cada cuento desfallecia toda la narración, y eso le resto muchísimo; esto es algo que intenta argumentar Lavin, en su cuento: Una historia con estructura, aún así me hubiese gustado que el final de algunos cuentos los dejase con frases abiertas si no había más solución, pero bueno, Lavin es dueña de sus cuentos y sus recuerdos.
No ha estado mal para ser mi primer acercamiento con ella.
October 29, 2014
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 2, 2012
Lavin's daughter selected the stories for this collection, and every editor has criteria in mind, but the resulting whole didn't appeal to me as much as I expected. This isn't my first exposure to Lavin, and I was looking forward a delicious read, but because there are a few lengthy stories included which didn't appeal to me much, which were very unlike the others, I was disappointed at times. I found it an uneven book.
September 15, 2017
Yo no sé qué les dan de comer a los niños en Irlanda para que salgan tantos cuentistas geniales.
January 23, 2020
La sutileza de la escritura. Dejar lo más importante sin contar, llevar la narración por un camino, dejar algún algún pequeño desvío detrás por si hay que volver a el y cuando todo parece llevar al sitio lógico dejarlo ahí. Punto final. Sin más, los personajes quedan en suspenso, la historia seguro que continúa pero eso no es cosa de la autora... El lector sabrá como continuarla-
www.preferirianotenerquehacerlo.wordp...
www.preferirianotenerquehacerlo.wordp...
September 3, 2018
Del cuento "Tom":
"Me he preguntado a menudo qué fue de las cartas de amor que mi padre le escribía. ¿Qué hizo mi madre con ellas? ¿Pueden las faltas de ortografía y una gramática pobre ser motivo suficiente para que una mujer destruya sus cartas de amor?".
Del cuento "El hijo de la viuda":
"Quizá mucha de nuestras acciones posean esa cualidad doble, esa posibilidad de alternativa, y solo mediante una minuciosa observación y una sinceridad absoluta sigamos el camino que se nos destina, que, por muy trágico que sea, resulta mejor que la tragedia que nos buscamos nosotros solos".
Del cuento "Trastevere":
"(...) Qué corta era la vida. Y se acordó de una cosa que le había dicho Mack una vez, a la que ella no había dado ninguna importancia en su momento. Ella había comentado que no le veía mucho sentido a casarse a su edad, cuando ya no tenían mucho que darse el uno al otro, y él había meneado la cabeza en desacuerdo.
-Al menos no nos empobreceremos el uno al otro."
"Me he preguntado a menudo qué fue de las cartas de amor que mi padre le escribía. ¿Qué hizo mi madre con ellas? ¿Pueden las faltas de ortografía y una gramática pobre ser motivo suficiente para que una mujer destruya sus cartas de amor?".
Del cuento "El hijo de la viuda":
"Quizá mucha de nuestras acciones posean esa cualidad doble, esa posibilidad de alternativa, y solo mediante una minuciosa observación y una sinceridad absoluta sigamos el camino que se nos destina, que, por muy trágico que sea, resulta mejor que la tragedia que nos buscamos nosotros solos".
Del cuento "Trastevere":
"(...) Qué corta era la vida. Y se acordó de una cosa que le había dicho Mack una vez, a la que ella no había dado ninguna importancia en su momento. Ella había comentado que no le veía mucho sentido a casarse a su edad, cuando ya no tenían mucho que darse el uno al otro, y él había meneado la cabeza en desacuerdo.
-Al menos no nos empobreceremos el uno al otro."
October 26, 2008
Not as good as Tales from Bective Bridge, but a nice collection nonetheless. You get a sense that she was much older when she wrote these stories, which is interesting, there's a kind of wisdom to them, but also a warmth and intimacy that isn't in the earlier works. Still though, if you're new to her writing - and she's got to be one of the most under-appreciated short story writers around - I'd recommend starting with some earlier stories first.
January 20, 2019
Compré este libro a ciegas, por una iniciativa muy bonita de la Librería del bosque de la Maga Colibrí, y me encantó. Encuentro su prosa tan fina y precisa como el cristal de una galería antigua. Muy recomendable.
January 31, 2021
No conocía a Mary Lavin.
Me ha gustado mucho la variedad de los relatos del libro, algo que se agradece en un primer acercamiento a una autora y más tratándose de un libro extenso. Me ha hecho ilusión saber que la selección de relatos la realizó su hija porque así el libro conecta de otra forma más con lo biográfico.
Los relatos son muy diversos en contextos y marcos, pero guardan en común una misma textura, una porosidad muy física que abre paso a la dureza de la vida. Es interesante el bucolismo de la Irlanda campestre no solo por contraste con otros paisajes urbanos y humanos arduos, sino porque incluye, sin discriminación alguna, en un mismo universo, la belleza y las vidas difíciles, los abandonos o sus huellas, el sentido, o no, de la vuelta a los orígenes, las oportunidades perdidas.
Las historias tienen personajes que dicen lo que sí se piensa y no suele decirse, personajes que escapan de la soledad sin vergüenza, con los que coincides sin saber adónde van.
Hay crudeza y costumbrismo, y sobre todo es una escritura profunda, precisa y con un alto contenido de ternura.
Me ha gustado mucho la variedad de los relatos del libro, algo que se agradece en un primer acercamiento a una autora y más tratándose de un libro extenso. Me ha hecho ilusión saber que la selección de relatos la realizó su hija porque así el libro conecta de otra forma más con lo biográfico.
Los relatos son muy diversos en contextos y marcos, pero guardan en común una misma textura, una porosidad muy física que abre paso a la dureza de la vida. Es interesante el bucolismo de la Irlanda campestre no solo por contraste con otros paisajes urbanos y humanos arduos, sino porque incluye, sin discriminación alguna, en un mismo universo, la belleza y las vidas difíciles, los abandonos o sus huellas, el sentido, o no, de la vuelta a los orígenes, las oportunidades perdidas.
Las historias tienen personajes que dicen lo que sí se piensa y no suele decirse, personajes que escapan de la soledad sin vergüenza, con los que coincides sin saber adónde van.
Hay crudeza y costumbrismo, y sobre todo es una escritura profunda, precisa y con un alto contenido de ternura.
September 26, 2019
Some entertaining stories but all read like parables without resolution. Examples like Lemonmade begin strong but peter out by the end. Moreover, the edition I read was so riddled with typos (one characters name abruptly changed from "Purdy" to "Portly" rndomly throughout the text) it was badly marred.
October 26, 2020
Mary Lavin was such an astute observer of people....also brilliant at portraying the Ireland of her times. Some of the situations depicted so well in her short stories are difficult to consider and contemplate, however they feel authentic and are an essential type of reading for those of us who seek to understand just how rapidly Ireland has changed in the last number of decades.
March 17, 2019
I liked several stories a lot ("A cup of tea"), when Lavin writes about the personal side of her family.
However, many of the stories felt dated to me, especially those describing Ireland in the 60s and 70s.
However, many of the stories felt dated to me, especially those describing Ireland in the 60s and 70s.
April 20, 2019
Una cuentista irlandesa recomendada por Alice Munro y Joyce Carol Oates. Cuentos sencillos en apariencia, pero con una técnica impecable. Muy recomendable para quienes leen o practican el género por su precisión y capacidad de conseguir un gran impacto con pocos elementos. Un descubrimiento.
December 31, 2018
instantes, retazos y olor a campo.
July 2, 2019
Many different short stories. mix of humour and sorrow.
November 24, 2023
No lo he terminado. Pero Mary es una maestra de la narración. Los relatos son brillantes. Totalmente irlandeses.
December 3, 2024
Y si no podía recordarlo, a voluntad, ¿qué significaba el tiempo? ¿Para qué servía haber vivido el pasado, si desaparecía por completo detrás de nosotros?
December 27, 2010
Mary Lavin was presented to me as being in the grand tradition of Irish short story writers, ranked with Joyce and McGahern and William Trevor. So I'm afraid to say that I was a little disappointed in this collection, my first introduction to her work. I'm not sure just what it was about these stories that failed to really ignite my interest: she has as distinct a voice as Trevor or McGahern, to be sure; the themes and settings are certainly familiar (ranging from St. Stephen's Green to Madison Avenue, with plenty of small-town Ireland in the mix). I found the stories which used an omniscient third-person narrator generally more compelling than those which seemed to be drawn from Lavin's own life, oddly enough, which leads me to believe that perhaps we (she and I) are just too different. The stories about widowhood and raising children without benefit of a spouse, or those which featured a writer (clearly her) left me feeling outside. Fiction is supposed to be able to overcome differences such as these; one of us certainly failed. I wanted to like them more.
July 22, 2011
absolutely incredible collection of short stories. definitely made me think of richard yates, but irish and female and very concerned with widowhood. But similar themes of loneliness and the feeling of drifting in a world that isn't perfect behind the plastic veneer which is slowly cracking... Set mostly in middle class/upper middle class Irish society, Lavin has a really arresting style- the stories are all fairly short and several times I couldn't put the book down. I think I first decided to read some of her stuff because of a reference to her writing at the Cracked Lookingglass exhibit at Princeton- there's a great short story in the new yorker from i-can't-remember-when but Dana and I both read that and thought it was awesome, so she got me this book for my birthday. Lavin really has a lot of stories about widowhood, and I can't exactly relate, but the universal themes of loss/dealing with loss/life after loss are very compelling and everyone can find something in there to chew on.
Want to read
November 19, 2025Read so far:
In the middle of the fields --2
A family likeness --2
Lemonade --
*Tom --
The girders --
A cup of tea --3
A gentle soul --
Chamois gloves --
The joy-ride --
The convert --
In a café --3
A story with a pattern --
*The widow's son --
*The will --
The little prince --
Trastevere --
***
Brigid
Frail vessel --2
The great wave
Happiness --2
A happy death
Heart of gold
The living
My vocation
The nun's mother
One summer
The patriot son --2
The sandcastle
A single lady
The small bequest
A wet day --4
The yellow beret --2
In the middle of the fields --2
A family likeness --2
Lemonade --
*Tom --
The girders --
A cup of tea --3
A gentle soul --
Chamois gloves --
The joy-ride --
The convert --
In a café --3
A story with a pattern --
*The widow's son --
*The will --
The little prince --
Trastevere --
***
Brigid
Frail vessel --2
The great wave
Happiness --2
A happy death
Heart of gold
The living
My vocation
The nun's mother
One summer
The patriot son --2
The sandcastle
A single lady
The small bequest
A wet day --4
The yellow beret --2
August 5, 2011
A focus on the gaps in relations and life won out over the domestic nature of these stories. With a focus on fleeting moments uneasily grasped, as in death and loneliness, I appreciated these stories in the end. Although less focused on 'heavy' issues, 'The Joy-Ride' was probably my favorite story. 'Lemonade,' 'In a Cafe,' 'The Convert,' 'In the Middle of the Fields,' and 'Tom,' were other favorites, probably in that order.
Read
January 21, 2008As seen on A Work in Progress.
book-collection
June 29, 2017Irish Independent Great Irish Writers Series
March 28, 2017
An easy read.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews