No Country for Young Women

Megan Malone, born out of wedlock in the United States, never knew violence as a child. When her mother took her back to Ireland and married John Taylor – that changed. This is the story of how domestic violence and abuse forge a bond between a mother and her daughter forcing them to confront the cruel parochialism of rural Ireland in the 1970s. At the heart of the novel, a young girl perseveres with a campaign to see that justice is meted out when people break the law. When a reactionary priest attempts to block her struggle, he serves as a catalyst to highlight the darkest secrets of the Catholic Church and precipitates an investigation into the aberrant behaviour of abusive clergy. The novel explores the personal dilemmas of those caught up in the aftermath. It pursues the history of particular cases through the eyes of the innocents and the not so innocent, contrasting the domesticity of the young and unsophisticated with the brutality of the abuse they suffer. In the end, the simplicity of long-held beliefs and the innate goodness that binds people together triumphs despite battles with the police, the Church and the justiciary. This is a story about love and courage, and how an indomitable spirit can bring a powerful institution to its knees – and shows why Ireland in the 1970s is 'no country for young women'.