The Ante-Room (VMC)

by KateO'Brien (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  1996

  $3.23

  It is the Eve of All Saints, 1880, and Teresa Mulqueen lies dying. Her family gathers round her, and beneath this sad scene another drama, no less poignant, unfolds. In this house of stillness and shadow, her daughter Agnes anxiously awaits the return of her sister Rose-Marie and brother-in-law Vincent. Agnes adores her sister, but secretly, passionately loves Vincentand she knows their marriage is foundering. Ahead lies a terrible battle between her uncompromising religious faith and the intensity of her love.

• New

  Paperback
  2006

  $17.43

  Ireland, 1880 and a prosperous, provincial family observes the three great autumnal feasts of the Church. As Teresa Mulqueen lies dying, her family gather round her and beneath this drama another, no less poignant, unfolds. Unmarried daughter Agnes awaits the return of her sister Marie-Rose and brother-in-law Vincent. She adores her sister, but secretly, pasionately, loves Vincent. And their marriage, she knows, is unhappy...Ahead lies a terrible battle between her uncompromising faith and the intensity of her love. In this delicately imagined novel, originally published in 1934, Kate O'Brien lays bare the struggles between personal need and the Catholic faith with the sympathy and insight which is the hallmark of her craft.