© Samleren
Centred around the theft of a baby from a Dublin hospital in the 1950s, Mother of Pearl recounts in three separate sections the stories of each of the women involved in this triangle - the abductress, the biological mother and the woman who was the stolen child. In the first part, we are introduced to Irene, who, released after years of confinement in a tuberculosis sanitarium, finds herself entrapped anew in a loveless marriage to an impotent husband. In her loneliness, she invents a child, Pearl, and then takes her illusion a step further, stealing a baby from the maternity hospital. Four years of happiness follow until one day the police are tipped off and take Pearl away. The second part focuses on Rita, the child's natural mother, who had not wanted the baby, but when it was stolen was so overwhelmed by guilt, she resolved to deny the event. Despite the return of her daughter four years later, she holds on to her fabrication, giving the child a new identity as Mary and pretending to her and her younger daughter, Stella, there had been an older, stillborn sibling. The final part is Mary's story, who, unloved and isolated in her real family, finds solace in an imaginary friendship with the mysterious dead sister whom she names Jewel. Jewel, meanwhile, precipitates Mary's disaster.
Jonathan Cape 1996
Translated into: French, Danish
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