Linked in Pain; Martyrdom Connects Mom, Dying Daughter, Surrogate Dad
The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel › January 30, 2005
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Summary
The central trio in Mary Gordon's new novel would not call themselves believers, but they reflect the Holy Family in a troubled, contemporary way: the sorrowing mother, her dying adult child and a surrogate human father.
It's Christmas, 1998. New Yorker Maria Meyers, who long ago threw off a strict Catholic girlhood for a post-'60s life of activism and passion, is suddenly called to Dublin where her daughter, Pearl, a student at Trinity College, has chained herself to the flagpole in front of the American Embassy. Pearl is on a hunger strike and plans to die, she writes in a strange statement, for three reasons: in witness for a life of a dead friend, Stephen Donegan; to show support for the recently announced Peace Agreement; and "to mark the human will to harm."See the full content of this document
Extract
Linked in Pain; Martyrdom Connects Mom, Dying Daughter, Surrogate Dad
On her way to Dublin, Maria summons from Rome her childhood companion, closest friend and Pearl's father figure, Joseph Kasperman; Pearl is the daughter of a brief, intense relatio...
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