© Kinneret, 2000
This historical novel is based on a true story - the trial of Martin Cleary for the murder of his wife, Bridget, in 1895. Married for over a year, with pregnancy still eluding her, Bridget hoped that a renowned fertility rite would bring an end to her barren spell. But as further childless years went by, the good people of Tipperary came to the conclusion that other forces were at work. There was talk even of possession, and fairies, and the need for a second cure to free her of her burden. Bridget Cleary was burned by her husband and neighbours in an attempted exorcism. A hundred years later, a motherless son is going through the papers of his recently deceased father. He finds an account of the curing of Bridget and remembers a holiday in childhood with his cold and unyielding father. Together they met an old man who recollected the true story of Bridget and her family. The father's obsession with the story is passed on to the son who takes upon himself the task of piecing together the losses and concealed furies of his childhood.
Hamish Hamilton 1994
Translated into: Hebrew
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