A swift pure cry

Title: A Swift Pure Cry
Author: Siobhan Dowd
# of pages: 310

Review:

After her mother's death, Michelle "Shell" Talent is struggling to take care of her younger siblings Jimmy and Trix alone, in her small village of Coolbar. Her father has quit his job and his previous life, becoming an angry and often delusional man who claims to dedicate his life to God and preaching the Gospel. Although Shell lost her faith in God after the tragedy in her family, a new curate comes to her parish and renews the faith in all of those who attend Mass.

Meanwhile, Shell Talent's life is further troubled when she realizes that she is pregnant with the child of a boy who has left for the New York. She tries her best to hide it, but when it is born, an entirely new crisis emerges and throws the village out of balance.

Based on a true story, the plot of A Swift Pure Cry seemed to lack originality. Teenage pregnancies are a common issue that has been dealt with in many, if not all, developed countries. Often, teenage mothers resort to abandoning their babies. Therefore, Shell's situation in terms of the baby could have easily been another regular occurrence.

Nevertheless, the concept of faith expressed in the novel was quite interesting. A single priest who arrived in Coolbar completely changed the views of the congregation with his passion, and he is described as a person with a kind heart. Shell immediately fell in love with religion, even having frequent hallucinations of her mother.

Because of the deplorable lack of creativity in the story, however, I would not recommend this novel to anyone.

Screen Name: WaterfallOfDestiny
Branch: Angus Glen