FICTION: Eugene McEldowney's Stella's Story tells of a life, from its beginnings to its near end, in precise and moving language. With great care, building on the mostly small happenings upon which all of our lives turn, he gives us a novel which tells both Stella Maguire's story and that of the great, middle sweep of the 20th century. Reviewd by Rose Doyle.
Stella's Story. By Eugene McEldowney. New Island, 370pp. €13.99
Estelle Maguire, growing up on a farm in Co Fermanagh in the l930s and early l940s, enjoys her French-sounding name, her loving family and acknowledges, from the earliest of innocent and ignorant days, her attraction to dark, good-looking men. By the time Estelle becomes Stella in war-time Belfast, she's old enough to make the discovery, like many before and after her, that handsome dark men too often bring a love that is followed by the sadness and wisdom of downfall.
Stella's "downfall" is one which marks any woman it happens to for life; after giving birth to a baby boy she finds herself unable to keep him and hands him over for adoption. McEldowney's accounts of Stella returning again and again to see the child she has given up are among the most moving in the book.
He's good too on the detail of life; the enmities and jealousies in the workplace as well as the resentments and misunderstandings which separate and distance people and, too often, lead to the loss of friendship and love and to journeying along a road too well travelled.
McEldowney's story moves with his protagonist from the farming countryside of Ballinaleck to the cities of Belfast and Dublin, on to the fast-beating heart of New York city and, finally, to the slow suburbs of small town New Jersey. The moves happen effortlessly; Stella Maguire may make community and cultural changes but she's Estelle, dreaming, driven and governed by a desire to be loved and well thought of, wherever she goes.
The author's background in journalism shows; he has done his research and homework well. When Estelle arrives in Belfast her landlady tells her that "this town is a black hole when it comes to religion, believe you me". We don't see much of this but we are given lively insights into the lives and times of US army personnel based in Belfast during the war. When Stella moves to Dublin the (male) author fearlessly places her behind the cosmetic counter in Brown Thomas - and incidentally and en passant lets us know that a small, two-bedroomed flat in an old house in Leeson Street could be bought for £250 in the l950s.
Stella Maguire makes mistakes, plenty of them, throughout her life. When her son, near the end, tells her she's selfish, wants everything her own way and isn't prepared to make the compromises love requires if it's to survive, you can't but help agree with him. But she's a lot of other things too, which is why she's got a story to tell.
Stella's Story is also the story of an Ireland not long gone but so very, very far away. It's a story well told, and one which will strike many a chord in many a heart . The cover, not incidentally, is wonderfully well chosen.
Rose Doyle's Fate and Tomorrow, was published earlier this year by Hodder and Stoughton