A Greyhound of a Girl

A Greyhound of a Girl
by Roddy Doyle
Abrams, 2012. 201 pgs. Fiction

Mary O'Hara loves her granny, but hates going to the hospital to see her, and hates that her best friend has moved away. In the midst of her troubles, she meets an old woman outside her house. Her name is Tansie. She knows Mary without asking her name, and gives her a message--"Tell your granny it'll all be grand," she says. By and by we discover that Tansie is the spirit of Mary's granny's mother who died of influenza when her daughter was a very little girl. Never having felt that she had been able to say a proper goodbye she has lingered near her daughter until now, as Mary's granny, she is herself soon to die. A Greyhound of a Girl is a lovely, very Irish, short little book about family connections and the love that endures beyond this life. Don't be put off by the plainish cover. This book is beautifully well-written and filled with peace.

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