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Corrigan Women #1
The Corrigan Women
M.T. Dohaney has been described as Newfoundland's answer to Frank McCourt. Her first novel, The Corrigan Women, a richly textured portrayal of outport life, is a contemporary classic. Long out-of-print, this first novel in the trilogy that ends with the critically acclaimed A Fit Month for Dying, is now available once again.
This intense family drama opens in pre-Confederation Newfoundland, on the eve of the First World War. Fifteen-year-old Bertha Ryan leaves home to work as the hired girl in the troubled Corrigan household in a larger village, called the Cove. There, she is browbeaten by her employer and raped by the deranged son. Pregnant and terrified, Bertha marries her assailant's brother, with whom she is in love. But the war intervenes, and when her husband returns, he is shell-shocked and nothing is the same.
Bertha's daughter Carmel fares no better. During the Second World War, she marries a charming, handsome American soldier stationed at the nearby base and later she discovers that he is already married. The weight of the accumulated shame eventually falls upon Carmel's daughter Tessie, who reaches adulthood caught in the crossfire between the ways of the Cove and the world beyond Newfoundland.
With characteristic wit and compassion, Dohaney depicts a trio of resilient women who face life with dignity, courage and irrepressible humour. When The Corrigan Women first appeared in 1988, readers kept asking M.T. Dohaney, "Well, what happened? Did Bertha keep visiting the grave?" Dohaney would reply, "I don't know. The Corrigan Women is fiction." "But she must have told you." "No, Bertha is fictional, and that was 1918, long before my time." And so it went, until the immediacy of The Corrigan Women and the characters that would not stay on the page drove Dohaney to write two more Corrigan Women novels in this highly acclaimed now popular trilogy.
This intense family drama opens in pre-Confederation Newfoundland, on the eve of the First World War. Fifteen-year-old Bertha Ryan leaves home to work as the hired girl in the troubled Corrigan household in a larger village, called the Cove. There, she is browbeaten by her employer and raped by the deranged son. Pregnant and terrified, Bertha marries her assailant's brother, with whom she is in love. But the war intervenes, and when her husband returns, he is shell-shocked and nothing is the same.
Bertha's daughter Carmel fares no better. During the Second World War, she marries a charming, handsome American soldier stationed at the nearby base and later she discovers that he is already married. The weight of the accumulated shame eventually falls upon Carmel's daughter Tessie, who reaches adulthood caught in the crossfire between the ways of the Cove and the world beyond Newfoundland.
With characteristic wit and compassion, Dohaney depicts a trio of resilient women who face life with dignity, courage and irrepressible humour. When The Corrigan Women first appeared in 1988, readers kept asking M.T. Dohaney, "Well, what happened? Did Bertha keep visiting the grave?" Dohaney would reply, "I don't know. The Corrigan Women is fiction." "But she must have told you." "No, Bertha is fictional, and that was 1918, long before my time." And so it went, until the immediacy of The Corrigan Women and the characters that would not stay on the page drove Dohaney to write two more Corrigan Women novels in this highly acclaimed now popular trilogy.
- GenresCanada
240 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1988
About the author
M. T. Dohaney
6 books2 followersCritically acclaimed novelist M. T. Dohaney was born in Newfoundland and currently lives in Fredericton, NB. After a career of teaching at the University of New Brunswick, she now devotes her time to writing. In addition to her five novels, which include the bestselling The Corrigan Women, she has published a work of non-fiction as well as numerous short stories and articles.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
September 14, 2014
Love the books that follow the generations and this one was well done. Although not by the same author it reminded me of Great Village which I also loved.
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October 30, 2021I would honestly say that this is one of the best books I have ever read . I loved it and have read it twice!
August 6, 2014
This book is a wonderful capture of historical Newfoundland. The story of three generations of women in a Newfoundland 20th century outpost is set in a Cove near Gander and encompasses so many local cultural norms and historical imperatives that I'm pretty shocked that it has not had more distribution.
If you are interested in Newfoundland, read this book!
If you are interested in Newfoundland, read this book!
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews