Oona O'

by Thomas Gallagher

Oona O'Hagen is courageous, fanciful and witty: she has endless capacity for spontaneity and joy. She is, in short, what many people strive to become themselves, or strive to meet and marry: direct, honest and genuine. The story of this unlikely but wholly believable girl, her married lover, her baby, and what happens to them, is unforgettable.

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 1976

About the author

Thomas Gallagher (1918-1992) was a widely published journalist and the author of eight books. His novel The Gathering Darkness (1952) was nominated for a National Book Award; his Fire at Sea: The Story of the Moro Castle (1959) won the Edgar Allan Poe Award for nonfiction.

Reviews

[Merry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Three stars with the considering this is an old book - written in the 60's and the attitudes within the pages reflect that time....unions did not allow women to bartend......out of wedlock children are considered the end of young woman's life as well as her baby's life! We've come along way, thankfully. The story moved along nicely, an easy read, and Oona O' was quite a character, and one heck of a strong woman among her dysfunctional Irish American family. So with that said, three stars, but so many other books I would rather have spent my time with.

[Aaron · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as part of my goal of reading the list of best books from 1940s by D.G. Myers. I liked this one a lot. It's a quick read, and really does capture some of the 1950s (what seemed to me, at least) quite well.

Oona O' comes out the page in a retrospect as a groundbreaking character, who was too early for her time in many ways.