
Peninsula Press continue their good work republishing the archive of Maeve Brennan, an Irish writer who made her name in mid-century America and died in 1993. The Visitor was written in the 1940s but never progressed beyond manuscript form while Brennan was alive. Qualifying as a novella at 107 pages, its needling, subtly tragic study of a dysfunctional family will delight anyone who’s enjoyed the author’s short story collection The Springs Of Affection.
Anastasia, protagonist and the visitor of the title, invites a sympathetic hearing. Her mother, with whom she lived in Paris, has recently died, and a desire to arrange affairs and reconnect with the family has brought her back to Dublin. There, she gets the cold shoulder from her grandmother, who makes it clear Anastasia’s an unwanted guest in the house, and the granddaughter is without a confidante in the city of her upbringing.
Brennan’s skill for character study and her matter-of-fact prose – the better for conveying this brand of Catholic frostiness – makes The Visitor doleful and compelling, ending on a particular emotional peak for Anastasia. By this time, she has burned through much of our sympathy, appearing needy and hapless even while subjected to mistreatment – as real-life people sometimes do.
The Visitor, Maeve Brennan (Peninsula)
Price: £10.99. Info: here
words NOEL GARDNER