Shadows from the Fire

by Mary Ryan

On a balmy May evening in 1969, three young women face very different futures. Patricia is in love, and finally agrees to spend the night with her boyfriend Paddy in the beautiful valley of Glendalough. Joan, studying for her Leaving certificate, dreams of a career as a lawyer. In a nearby Dublin suburb, fourteen-year-old Sarah wakes from a nightmare, but there is no relief from the horrors she fears are lying in wait for her.
Twenty years later, these women are brought together in a most unexpected way, for what is at stake for each of them is survival itself...
Shadows from the Fire is a powerful novel born out of anger. For years Mary Ryan has watched the male-dominated Irish courts humiliate the women who look to them for justice, particularly those involving sexual violence. Cruelty between men and women can come in many forms - physical harm the most obvious, emotional torture the most insidious. But the shocking truth to this novel is that the brutality is not imagined or exaggerated for the sake of a good read, it is real and happening today in our homes.

277 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Susan Watts · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really couldn’t get into this book. I usually love books set in Ireland but this one I found hard work

[Sharon Reeves · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book, a good story where 3 womens lives are so different, and each woman seems to have an effect on the others. A good read.

[Kath · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ok as a quick read but not really very interesting.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Facinating and interesting read, but not until many pages in, disturbing from a female perspective, made more concerning after reading the author's note at the end.