Abdul, sitting in his hotel suite in Spain, momentarily looks up from his paper work at the television news where he sees a beautiful young English woman alight from a tour bus. Maria, the overly protected only child of her widowed mother, has come with two fellow workers to Spain on holidays. I must meet her, Abdul decides as her image fades from the screen. They do meet and fall in love but misunderstandings and the clash of cultures could have a profound effect on their lives. Maura's previous book, THE LANE which takes place in Ireland, was published in 2011 and she still hears from those who read THE LANE and who are looking forward to reading this book which is a very different story. Maura lives and writes on Cape Cod. She grew up in Dublin, Ireland, where she and her six brothers attended Elementary and High School before they came one by one to the U.S., where they received their college education, married, and had children. She has travelled to several European countries, also to China, Japan, Peru and returns as often as possible to Ireland.

The Ring with the Emerald Stone

Rooney Hitzenbuhler, Maura

Literature & Fiction

Dog Ear Publishing, LLC

In the repressive Fifties, an outsider in an impoverished, tightly knit Dublin community defies the odds to live her dream of independence. Until very recently, if a woman became pregnant out of marriage in Ireland, her future was grim. The child was usually taken away, often sold to America; the woman was incarcerated in a convent, one of the infamous “laundries,” and everything was swept under the carpet. Young, pregnant and alone, the unlikely heroine of The Lane devises a remarkable strategy and employs a fair amount of courage to take a different path. Not only does Kate sidestep scandal, she manages to keep her child and support them both, feats unheard of in Ireland of the day. The place is as important as the story. Tucked behind major roads, rows of squat cottages were built to house workers in the very heart of Dublin. What these neighborhoods lacked in amenities they made up for in fraternity. Our girl Kate, now the mysterious wife of an absent husband, becomes ensconced in the Redmond Cottages (a real place that has since been demolished) on the lane off Bath Avenue (a road that has survived.) Her nurse’s training and her small son endear her to the close clan on the lane, including a reclusive old man, who shares his own secrets with this brave young woman. It seems all the characters in The Lane go to extraordinary lengths to fit into Irish society. But, more astonishing, they go even farther for love. In the tradition of Maeve Binchy, The Lane paints a clear and poignant picture of Dublin in the Fifties; its people, their hardships and their humor. The Lane draws a sharp line under the restrictions on Irish women and shows how one woman prevailed.

The Lane: A Young Woman's Tale in the Heart of Dublin

Literary

GemmaMedia

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Books by Rooney Hitzenbuhler, Maura

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Rooney Hitzenbuhler, Maura. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Ring with the Emerald Stone

The Lane: A Young Woman's Tale in the Heart of Dublin