Give Them Stones

Give Them Stones, Mary Beckett, Perennial Library (Harper and Row), 1987

Here is the story of an average woman growing up in Ireland. Martha Murtagh is sent, as an adolescent, to live with a couple of aunts in the country, to escape the possible horrors of living in World War II era Belfast. She is grudgingly accepted by the aunts, having to do all the chores and sleep on a camp bed in the kitchen.

The war ends, but Martha is forced to stay in the country, because her family has yet to send for her. This leads to the thought that maybe she has been abandoned. A few years later, Martha marries a man named Dermot and moves into a small row house in Belfast. Four sons follow quickly. Dermot works occasionally, so money is always a problem, but Martha learns how to bake bread, and makes some money selling it to the neighborhood women.

Always in the background is the fear and uncertainty associated with the growing Catholic/Protestant divide that has characterized life in 20th century northern Ireland.

This is a short novel, but it's mighty. Beckett does an excellent job throughout, from the descriptions of family life in Belfast to the lyrical style to the the tale of the strength of one person amidst an ocean of despair. Here is a graceful and well-done story.