A Greyhound of a Girl
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- $9.99
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- $9.99
Publisher Description
Mary O'Hara is a sharp and cheeky 12-year-old Dublin schoolgirl who is bravely facing the fact that her beloved Granny is dying. But Granny can't let go of life, and when a mysterious young woman turns up in Mary's street with a message for her Granny, Mary gets pulled into an unlikely adventure. The woman is the ghost of Granny's own mother, who has come to help her daughter say good-bye to her loved ones and guide her safely out of this world. She needs the help of Mary and her mother, Scarlett, who embark on a road trip to the past. Four generations of women travel on a midnight car journey. One of them is dead, one of them is dying, one of them is driving, and one of them is just starting out.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Doyle revisits the subject of his picture book, Her Mother's Face (2008), with this trim novel about a comforting ghost who helps a family deal with the loss of a loved one. Mary O'Hara, 12, hates her daily trips to the Dublin hospital where her beloved grandmother, Emer, is dying, presumably from old age. Returning from school one day, Mary meets Tansey, who seems vaguely familiar even though she is dressed "like a woman who milked cows and threw hay with a pitchfork." Mary's mother, Scarlett (yes, Doyle has named a character Scarlett O'Hara), figures out that Tansey is the ghost of Emer's mother, who died suddenly of the flu in 1928, when Emer was only three. (Doyle is writing from a personal place: his mother lost her mother at a very early age and grew up with the profound sadness of not being able to remember what she looked like.) Written mostly in dialogue, at which Doyle excels, and populated with a charming foursome of Irish women, this lovely tale is as much about overcoming the fear of death as it is about death itself. Ages 9 up.
Customer Reviews
A Greyhound of a Girl
This was a great book. It's great for beginner readers of big chapter books. Take from me I'm nine going to ten years old. It's about four generations of women driving in their last car ride together. One of them is dead, one of them is dying, one of them is driving and one of them is starting out new. It's sad and also happy but it will all be grand. :)