Give Them Stones - Softcover

Beckett, Mary

3.88

48 ratings by Goodreads

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060972130 ISBN 13: 9780060972134

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1989

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When a boy is shot in the legs by a gunman against the side of her house, Martha, a baker, thinks back on the years of violence she has witnessed in Belfast

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From Publishers Weekly:

The author of A Belfast Woman presents a spare, powerfully affecting story with slyly humorous asides in the voice of Martha Hughes. The child of a poor Belfast family, Martha witnesses the strife between Catholics and Protestants, beginning during the time of the Troubles in 1935. Later, during World War II, the British intern her father, a Catholic suspected of IRA leanings. A woman grown, Martha marries and cares for her children with little help from her passive husband. During the years, she yearns for something of her own and for a united Ireland. When Martha discovers a talent for baking bread and earning money, she begins to fulfill both ambitions, contributing her profits to the Provos. But when the freedom fighters cripple a young boy, she refuses to give them further support and pays a terrible price for her rebellion. That is a momentary setback, however, not defeat for the courageous woman who struggles to achieve the life of dignity she deserves.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal:

In clear, spare fashion, Martha's life in Belfast is told alongside the recent history of Northern Ireland. Martha's family is of humble origins, and when her father is imprisoned for supposed IRA connections, she must leave school to work in the mill. She escapes the "Troubles" to the countryside with some elderly aunts, returns to Belfast to marry and produce four sons, and later opens a small neighborhood bakery amid growing violence. This seemingly slight, matter-of-fact story is rich in perceptive detail, and Martha's view of the religious/political turmoil is at once naive and profoundly insightful. Warmly recommended.Ann H. Fisher, Radford P.L., Va.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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