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The Deverell Woman
Maura Deverell has no wish to obey her cruel landlord's command to marry his crippled son Liam. She cannot even understand why the rich and powerful Riordans want her, a humble peasant girl, in their family. Then she is brutally raped by Liam's brother Padraig, who gloats that once she is under their roof, Maura will be at his mercy - his sexual slave. Maura's mother will not let this vicious act go unavenged. She curses the Riordans and then, on her deathbed, exacts a promise from her daughter to leave the shores of her beloved Ireland for good. Maura's exile to the harsh industrial poverty of Birmingham is fraught with dangers. Even when she makes staunch friends, and discovers a protector in the shape of Aiden Shanley, Maura cannot help remembering the land of her birth and what might have been . . .
432 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 1, 2002
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50 people want to read
About the author
Meg Hutchinson
37 books26 followersThis author has also released books under the name Margaret Astbury.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
May 24, 2017
It was really good. I really Love Meg Hutchinson.
November 7, 2021
I like Megs Books but found this one a little tiring, I was glad to get to the end.
August 19, 2014
I was looking forward to a light and frivolous read. You know, the sort of book that you use purely to entertain yourself for a bit with no thinking required.
Sadly this novel is so dire it made me furious and irritated. I have never seen a writing style so peppered with question marks? To the point where whole paragraphs of sentences end in question marks? I still can't see the point of them all?
The storyline is totally improbable. Characters routinely pop up seemingly from the dead all the way from Birmingham to Clonmacnoise, Ireland. And the happy coincidences are actually deserving of their own question mark?
My final gripe is the incomprehensible dialect. Maybe if you are a local reader it would work. My view is that the author has put so much effort into writing the dialogue in dialect (correct me please if there is a better way to express this) that I was unable to discern the meaning if many sentences thereby leaving me with many ????
Sadly this novel is so dire it made me furious and irritated. I have never seen a writing style so peppered with question marks? To the point where whole paragraphs of sentences end in question marks? I still can't see the point of them all?
The storyline is totally improbable. Characters routinely pop up seemingly from the dead all the way from Birmingham to Clonmacnoise, Ireland. And the happy coincidences are actually deserving of their own question mark?
My final gripe is the incomprehensible dialect. Maybe if you are a local reader it would work. My view is that the author has put so much effort into writing the dialogue in dialect (correct me please if there is a better way to express this) that I was unable to discern the meaning if many sentences thereby leaving me with many ????
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews