A Greyhound of a Girl

Starred review from April 2, 2012
Doyle revisits the subject of his picture book, Her Mother’s Face (2008), with this trim novel about a comforting ghost who helps a family deal with the loss of a loved one. Mary O’Hara, 12, hates her daily trips to the Dublin hospital where her beloved grandmother, Emer, is dying, presumably from old age. Returning from school one day, Mary meets Tansey, who seems vaguely familiar even though she is dressed “like a woman who milked cows and threw hay with a pitchfork.” Mary’s mother, Scarlett (yes, Doyle has named a character Scarlett O’Hara), figures out that Tansey is the ghost of Emer’s mother, who died suddenly of the flu in 1928, when Emer was only three. (Doyle is writing from a personal place: his mother lost her mother at a very early age and grew up with the profound sadness of not being able to remember what she looked like.) Written mostly in dialogue, at which Doyle excels, and populated with a charming foursome of Irish women, this lovely tale is as much about overcoming the fear of death as it is about death itself. Ages 9–up.

February 15, 2012
Twelve-year-old Mary O'Hara is surrounded by good-humored women... her mum at home, her mum's mum, who is dying in Dublin's Sacred Heart Hospital, and her mum's mum's mum, who has just materialized as a ghost on her street. That's four generations of Irish women, all whirling about in some state of consciousness or another, and it's enough to make Mary dizzy. Mary is a cheeky girl, like many almost-teenagers, but she's level-headed enough to embrace the ghostly visits from her great-grandmother Tansey, who looks young but "talks old" because she died at age 25 in 1928. Tansey's spirit is sticking around for her dying daughter, Mary's granny, to reassure her "it'll all be grand" in the great beyond and, as it turns out, to join her family for one last tearful, mirthful midnight road trip. Doyle divides up the novel by character, giving readers first-hand glimpses into the nature of each woman through time. In a lovely, lilting Irish dialect, he deftly explores the common threads of their lives through story and memory, from family-owned racing greyhounds to the traumatic dropping of an egg. On the subject of mortality, Mary says, ."..it just seems mean." Her mother agrees. "It does seem mean. Especially when it's someone you love." Indeed. A warm, witty, exquisitely nuanced multigenerational story. (Fiction. 10-14)

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August 1, 2012

Gr 5-8-"Cheeky," Dublin-raised Mary O'Hara, 12, is "not a little girl anymore," but she is still a child in many ways. With her beloved grandmother, Emer, dying in the hospital, Mary meets Tansey, her great-grandmother's ghost. Tansey has returned to assure Emer that dying is not so bad and "it'll all be grand." The narrative skips between time periods and the point of view alters among the perspectives of Mary, her mother, Emer, and Tansey. Readers learn that Tansey died of the flu in 1928 when Emer was only three and has been lingering near her ever since. The four generations of women go on a late-night road trip to the old family farm and the sea, a journey that allows them to learn about one another and helps them cope with past and future losses. The Irish dialect may delight some readers but frustrate others. Windows into the past give depth and meaning to each woman's struggle. The theme that love and affection are handed down through generations of women is a bit understated, but that's part of its charm. Occasionally, the frequent dialogue becomes tiresome and reads more like poetry. Pair this book with Jacqueline Kelly's The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate (Holt, 2009). An affecting story about growing up, family, life, and death.-Richelle Roth, Boone County Public Library, KY

Copyright 2012 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from March 15, 2012
Grades 7-12 *Starred Review* Mary, Scarlett, Ember, Tansy. Four generations of the same family. Mary is 12; Scarlett is her mother; Ember, Mary's grandmother, is dying; and Tansy, Ember's mother and Mary's great-grandmother, is a ghost. Isn't it grand? This elegantly constructed yet beautifully simple story, set in Ireland and spun with affection by Booker Prizewinner Doyle, will be something different for YA readers. It's Mary who first spots Tansy, and she assumes she's a new, albeit odd, neighbor. As readers learn through the twisting narrative, Tansy died of the flu when Ember was just three. Now, it is Ember who is dying. Tansy, tethered to this world by guilt, wants to comfort her daughter in ways she was unable to while Ember was growing up. Will Mary and Scarlett help her? That's the bare bones, but the heart and soul are found in the stories of each life. Sometimes told in separate chapters, sometimes intertwined into the contemporary narrative, they describe the sweet moments and heartaches that come to everyone and crystallize how events long in the past affect the present. There's more than a touch of magic realism as Mary and Scarlett readily accept Tansy's ghostliness, but the love they feel for each other is bedrock. These four lilting voices will linger long after the book is closed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2012, American Library Association.)