Ellen

by Ita Daly

An only child of Catholic Dublin parents, Ellen was a strange, solitary girl. She was lumpish and dull, she was lonely. But she had resigned herself to this, and wanted nothing more from life than to be left alone in her isolation, to carry out a quiet typing job without interference, without change. If only her mother would stop entertaining such ambitious fantasies for her. When Ellen's hopes of an academic career fell through, Mrs Yates moved on to visions of a glittering social success, inviting strange girls around for elaborate teas and friendships which never materialised. Then Ellen met Myra. Pretty, rosy Myra who wanted Ellen to be her friend, to meet her family, to share a flat! A new world unfolded, a world which Ellen found completely voluptuous; evenings by the fire, fish and chip suppers, secrets shared with a friend - even if that friend could sometimes be casually brutal. Throughout the summer months, there were lazy days spent in the garden with Adrien, Myra's stockbroker boyfriend and his cousin. Bobbie even paid attention to Ellen. She had never imagined that life could be like this, and she wanted it to go on forever. Who would have thought that the idyll could be violated - let alone in the shocking way it was?

144 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published April 24, 1987

About the author

Ita Daly's short stories have won the Hennessy Literary Award and the Irish Times short story competition, and are collected in The Lady with the Red Shoes (1980). Her novels include Unholy Ghosts (1997), All Fall Down (1992), Dangerous Fictions (1991), A Singular Attraction (1987) and Ellen (1986). She has written two books for children, Candy on the Dart (1989) and Candy and Sharon Olé (1991). She was married to the author David Marcus until his death in 2009. She currently lives in Dublin.

Reviews

[Clare O'Beara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this in one sitting, because it is very short.
A young woman from a lower middle class family in Dublin of - well it was written in 1980s but could be set earlier - has no friends. She makes one girl friend despite her mother's trying to provide friends for her. The two girls move into a flat, which was certainly not normal for Dublin, not unless you were working a long way from home. Girls up from the country, for college or nursing, took flats. The mother is devastated but she can't control her daughter any more.
The rest of the story deals with the friends they make and men in particular. Halfway through comes one dreadful deed.

Overall this is a book about someone unlikeable, who starts to improve for us but then disimproves fast. Much of the story is boring daily life and musings with some location namechecking. What I did like is the rented flat, a former art studio with a glass wall, full of light. This is a first novel. I imagine the author wanted to write something unusual to make her name. What is absolutely unbelievable is that a well off young man could find no better girl in all Dublin than a boring girl (I actually want to call her something bad) with no conversation, interests or education.

This is an unbiased review.