Type of bind: Hardcover
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Page Count: 320
Printing Date: December 01, 2004
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Twenty seven years after she adopted her baby daughter in Ireland, Lena Molloy receives a mysterious call from Sister Monica, the nun who set up the adoption. She claims that she wants to merely tie up loose ends before she retires, but Lena feels both anxious and frightened after the call. Against her husband's wishes, and accompanied by her best friend, Alma -- who is nursing a broken heart -- Lena travels to the west of Ireland on a secret mission to trace the birth parents of her daughter, Mary, an up-and-coming star in the world of opera.
At very first the trail seems to have gone cold. Saint Joseph's home for unmarried mothers has become an old people's home, and Sister Monica is dismissive and unforthcoming. Then a chance meeting sets Lena on a journey through Ireland and into the past, taking her through many twists and turns to an outcome she could never have anticipated.
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Contented, we find the little Molloy clan, late of Ireland, now moving from one house to a new one in merry old England. Mother Nena's in the kitchen about to uncork the bubbly as she awaits arrival of her best friend Alma and others. Doting husband and father Jack, successful businessman Jack, romantic Jack, is at work doing successful businessman stuff. Daughter Mary travels with the opera, don't you know, boasting her own CD: Mary Molloy sings Mozart and Rossini. A singing bird on two continents---if not more---Mary's headed to San Francisco for another opera gig.
Idyllic the Molloy existence is--almost. There is only the matter of Mary's murky adoption out of Ireland's County Mayo to ponder. Mary and Jack tried for years to get pregnant, but it was not in the cards, and Nena herself was adopted, knowing nothing of her birth parents. Jack and Nena were approached at a cousin's wedding in Ireland by a nun, Sister Monica Devine, who with iron-fist ran Saint Joseph's Home for unmarried mothers. The Molloys jumped at adopting Mary, though left in the dark about her lineage. Today a nagging question remains more in Nena's mind than Mary's: Where did Mary's stunning voice come from?
Then the phone rings at the Molloy's. Sister Monica calls from the Emerald Isle. She's retiring and wants to check on the welfare of all her wee adopted ones, Mary included. How is Mary? What is her line of work? The questions also roll off Nena's tongue. What can you tell me about Mary's birth parents? Are they ill? Is there anything I should know about them? Sister Monica, in a word, remains noncommittal, further piquing Nena's growing obsession about her daughter's roots. Nena says people need to know who they are and where they came from, although Jack and Mary tell her she should leave well enough alone.
In a flash Nena and friend Alma, who swore off men following a jilting from her latest married flame, are on the plane to Dublin, where they rent a car and point it toward the west of Ireland. Using powerfully descriptive language to paint the beauty of the Irish countryside, McAuley unfolds a kind-of Thelma and Louise travelogue as the gal-pals head toward a showdown with Sister Monica. Fellow travelers with their own interesting tales appear to entertain readers while Nena blurts out her story to one and all over wine and good food, in bed-and-breakfasts dotting the Emerald Isle. A kindly widower, a barrister from Dublin named Donal, is lonely enough not to be put off by Nena's one-track banter and offers background information into the rights of adoptees and birth parents under Irish law. We sense a potential romance blossoming for Alma and Donal, but Alma's ice isn't easily thawed.
Sister Monica now runs Saint Joseph's as a senior citizen's home. The young pre-natal mothers are all gone and she is indeed ready to retire. Mysteriously, Sister seems about as glad to see Nena as she would Lucifer himself. Stonewalling Nena's questions, she's scolded as if she were a recalcitrant parochial school student. Adoptive parents have no rights under Irish law, Nena is reminded. What's more, Nena is told, be careful what you wish for. You just might get it. Sister will provide no information about Mary's birth parents to her. Thank you. Goodbye.
Not easily rebuffed after a long holiday journey, Nena has an epiphany. What do Catholics and others turn to when hope seems lost? God? Prayer? No---the Internet. She's soon peering at group pictures of unmarried mothers and babies from Saint Joseph's, taken during the timeframe that her daughter was born. Off in the rental car she goes, driving the back roads of Ireland in a madcap search of women who posed for the picture taken twenty-seven years ago. Nena feels even more pressure now that Mary's coming to Dublin in tow of a handsome male operatic lead---her lover---and a man who's unfortunately married. Tsk, tsk.
Our heroine Nena discovers two other morsels of information that evolve to cloud the picture. The lesser of them is that Sister Monica is not a well woman. More importantly, (drum roll) Sister Monica's brother, Father Frank Devine, is also known as Ireland's Singing Priest. He boasts a body of musical work, appearing on the telly and CD. Needless to say, if our Father fathered a child the possibility exists that......, well, you know.
As Nena flits about Ireland ingratiating herself to women in the group picture, she has only to identify Mary's birth mother, assuming that the lady will own up to an ancient affair. There `tis. Case closed, right? Nope. Surprise awaits sleuths who think they have McAuley's puzzle solved. The intrigue has just begun in this finely crafted plot set in a scenic Irish backdrop. Those whose forbears emigrated many years ago from the aulde sod appreciate the toil that goes into genealogical web unraveling. Many records from the Famine period were lost, destroyed ... Read More
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When we very first meet Lena Malloy, we see a woman who appears completely content with her life, including her marriage to a wonderful, faithful husband, Jack, and her relationship to her beautiful 27-year old adopted daughter, Mary, an up-and-coming opera singer. However, a single phone call changes all that--Sister Monica, the Irish nun who arranged Mary's adoption, contacts Lena, supposedly just to "catch up," but the call leaves Lena feeling anxious and unsettled. When Mary suddenly announces a change in schedule that will involve a performance in Ireland, Lena makes an impulsive decision to travel to Ireland on holiday, seek out Sister Monica, and find Mary's birth parents as a "gift" to her daughter.
The story which follows is interesting and engaging, although it involves quite a few coicidences. In fact, one character even points out that she herself has been searching for years to find her adopted daughter whereas it has taken Lena only a few days to track down the information she seeks. Furthermore, the author is a bit heavy-handed in her foreshadowing style: the book's conclusion offers several surprising twists, but I (along with virtually every character other than Lena) was able to accurately predict these with more than half the story to go. Still, this is a mostly entertaining novel that is likely to particularly appeal to Irish fiction enthusiasts and/or those with their own adoption experiences.
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This is a tale of incompleteness, hope, triumph against the odds, a giant leap to a major conclusion and then lies, deceit and devastation. Over twenty years ago Lena Malloy adopted her daughter Mary, and without any warning, Sister Monica, the person who handled the adoption, calls Lena and asks how Mary is doing. When asked why she made the call, Monica says that she is about to retire and as a final act is checking up on the status of the babies she adopted out. The story is set in Ireland and Monica is the former headmistress of a hostel for unwed mothers.
Lena is puzzled and recollects how she and her husband Jack came to adopt Mary. For years they had tried to have a child but without success. While attending a wedding they were suddenly asked if they would like to adopt a girl. The adoption was expedited and in a few days they were parents. Mary has grown into a very talented opera singer and was headlining at major opera houses around the world.
Lena herself was adopted as an infant and even though she grew up in a very good environment, she has always wanted to learn about her biological parents. Therefore, unbeknownst to Mary, Lena begins a search for Mary's parents. At very first the search starts slow, but it moves pretty fast and she learns the name of Mary's mother. However, to achieve this knowledge, she resorts to lies and trickery, impersonating her daughter so that people will be more forthcoming.
Since a priest who is also a talented singer had assisted Mary's mother, Lena reaches the conclusion that the priest is Mary's father. She goes so far as to confront the priest, and when he says that she had best just let the past lie undisturbed, she takes it as a subtle admission of guilt. It turns out that she is very wrong about her beliefs and when she learns the truth she finds it difficult to bear. Her drive to learn about her daughter was fueled by her feelings about being adopted and she had ignored the advice of almost everyone that what she was doing could lead to a place she would rather not go.
In the end, she is trying to come to grips with the reality she has found, but the book ends at the point when she takes the very first major step. The story is a good one, filled with an Ahab-like quest that Lena cannot put aside. She will not rest until she finds the truth and does not concern herself with whether Mary really wants to know. To achieve those ends, she begins lying to everyone, and starts making subtle threats if she doesn't get what she wants. For what appears to be the very first time in her life, right or wrong does not matter; there is only what she wants to know. I enjoyed the book even though it is in a genre that I ordinarily do not care for.
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Roisin McAuley's affecting and poignant very first novel, "Singing Bird," is an engrossing story of a mother and daughter who were both adopted as babies. The mother, Lena Molloy, waited until adulthood to inquire about her birth parents, but she was unable to learn who they were. Mary, the daughter whom Lena adopted in Ireland, seems content with the idea that she may never know who gave her up for adoption. At twenty-seven, Mary is now a talented and beautiful singer who is a rising star in the opera world.
Lena and her husband Jack are about to move into a new home, and they are looking forward to retirement in a few years. They are financially successful and have a second home in France. Lena and Jack have had a good marriage and they are bursting with pride at their daughter's sucess in the music world.
Suddenly, Lena gets a phone call from the nun who gave Mary to her so many years ago. This phone call turns Lena's life upside down. She makes the fateful decision to take a vacation in Ireland with her friend, Alma. While in Ireland, Lena plans to spend some time searching for the names of Mary's birth parents. Lena has no idea that by doing so, she may be playing with fire.
"Singing Bird" is filled with vivid and intriguing characters. Lena is an adoring wife and mother who has a hole in her heart because she longs to know the names of her natural parents. Her curiosity about her own origins drives her to learn about her daughter's birth parents, as well. Other memorable characters are Sister Monica, the crusty nun who contacts Lena after twenty-seven years of silence, and Alma, Mary's intelligent and often sarcastic best friend, who is unhappily involved in a dead-end affair with a married man.
McAuley is a natural storyteller. Her writing flows effortlessly, and she uses foreshadowing very cleverly to give the reader small clues about what is to come. "Singing Bird" has romance, gentle humor, beautiful descriptive writing about Ireland, and heart-tugging suspense. As Lena gets closer to the truth, the book is impossible to put down.
The biggest weaknesses in "Singing Bird" are the author's use of coincidence and her slightly pat ending. However, these small flaws do not detract from the warmth and compassion of this compelling story that will touch many readers, whether they are adopted or not. "Singing Bird" is a wonderful achievement by a very gifted writer.
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When Lena Malloy receives a mysterious phone call from the nun who arranged the adoption of her daughter some 27 years ago, Lena decides to find out just who were the parents of little Mary were. With her husband on an extended business trip, the timing seems perfect. However, what Lena slowly unfolds is a mystery far more troubling than she had ever expected. Indeed, she ends up learning to, "Be care what you ask, it might not turn out the way you intended." This is a touching story about gain and loss, about learning things you didn't want to know, and how you go on.
I would like to say something profound at this point, but I really can't think of anything to say. Ms. McAuley writes with a power and emotion that is a little hard to describe in pithy little comments. Suffice it to say that this is a very touching and even suspenseful story, as you strive to unravel the mystery with Lena. I loved this book, and highly recommend it to you.
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