Book description
In the tradition of Maeve Binchy, The Lane paints a clear and poignant
picture of Dublin in the Fifties? its people, their hardships and their
humor. The Lane draws a sharp line under the restrictions on Irish women
and shows how one woman prevailed. Until very recently, if a woman
became pregnant out of marriage in Ireland, her future was grim. The
child was usually taken away, often sold to America; the woman was
incarcerated in a convent, one of the infamous “laundries,” and
everything was swept under the carpet. Young, pregnant and alone, the
unlikely heroine of The Lane devises a remarkable strategy and employs a
fair amount of courage to take a different path. Not only does Kate
sidestep scandal, she manages to keep her child and support them both,
feats unheard of in Ireland of the day. The place is as important as the
story. Tucked behind major roads, rows of squat cottages were built to
house workers in the very heart of Dublin. What these neighborhoods
lacked in amenities they made up for in fraternity. Our girl Kate, now
the mysterious wife of an absent husband, becomes ensconced in the
Redmond Cottages (a real place that has since been demolished) on the
lane off Bath Avenue (a road that has survived.) Her nurse's training
and her small son endear her to the close clan on the lane, including a
reclusive old man, who shares his own secrets with this brave young
woman. It seems all the characters in The Lane go to extraordinary
lengths to fit into Irish society. But, more astonishing, they go even
farther for love. Maura Rooney Hitzenbuhler was born in New York, the
fourth of seven children of Irish immigrants. When her mother died in
childbirth, Maura, only four years old, and her brothers were sent to
Ireland and England, farmed out to relatives, never to be a family
again. The Lane is based on her memory of the forgotten places and
insular society of Dublin in the Fifties. On returning to America, Maura
became a writer and traveled extensively through Asia, Latin America,
Europe and the Middle East. A frequent visitor to Ireland, Maura lives
and writes on Cape Cod.
