When Ruby Clare's father was alive, they toiled together happily on
their dairy farm in Northern Ireland. Since his death,
Ruby--thirty-three, plump but comely--has been forced indoors and made a
domestic drudge for Martha, her endlessly critical mother, and her
prettier younger sisters, May and June.
But everything changes when Ruby finds her late grandmother's old case
in the attic. Among its strange contents: a curious, handmade volume
called The Book of Light.
As Ruby delves into its mysterious pages, she's enticed into a most
beguiling world, whose allure and magnetic power she finds irresistible.
Martha, convinced that her newly empowered daughter is going crazy,
enlists the help of the kindly parish priest, and then psychiatrist
Henry Shevlin. Henry appears imperturbable, yet is inwardly reeling from
his wife's unexplained disappearance the previous year.
As Ruby undergoes therapy, she meets local bachelor farmer Jamie
McCloone. Through their shared loneliness and isolation the two find the
courage to connect. But will Ruby's mother allow her daughter the
happiness she so richly deserves?
The Godforsaken Daughter is an unforgettable peek into small-town life
in Ireland's recent past. It's a glorious successor to McKenna's first
two "Tailorstown" novels, The Misremembered Man and The Disenchanted
Widow.
