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 "The
Cloths of Heaven" by Geraldine Nesbitt
Reviewed by: Sara Webb Quest (jquest@attbi.com)
Format: Glossy Paperback
Publisher: iUniverse, Incorporated
ISBN: 0595166601
Rating: * * * *1/2 stars!
This
novel is a first-person retelling by one Sheila McGann, a young
woman who suffers from cerebral palsy.
From pre-pubescence through early adulthood, Sheila records
the tragic friendship with Maud Phelan that has changed her life.
The
story begins with Maud's mother Kitty parking their motor home on
James Street, where Sheila, her mother and unassuming father live.
Sheila’s “Mam” takes a liking to Kitty, who is
everything she isn't -- carefree, sultry, full of attitude.
Sheila and Mam become loyal visitors of the Phelans until the
four women's lives mesh into one.
For
Sheila living through Maud has rewards.
Before Maud's appearance, Sheila was reliant on Mam, who has
met every basic human need. Post
Maud she is taken to breathtaking heights, evidenced in jaunts to
the nearby Shannon River where Maud hauls Sheila out of her
wheelchair to lay her on the grass.
But
there is something deeper going on.
What Nesbitt initially and cleverly conceals is that Maud is
as desperate for approval as Sheila.
Nesbitt's vision of the ugliness Sheila must confront on a
daily basis splendidly diverts reader attention away from Maud's
inner chaos. Sheila's
muscles lock, speech falters, mouth drools and handicap permits her
from going to the bathroom solo.
Nesbitt's realism is so profound readers empathize with
Sheila's fear and self-loathing, viewing Maud as the healthful
answer. All the while,
Maud is following in the careless footsteps of a promiscuous mother.
She gives her body and a ration of soul to each of three men,
as Sheila is realizing that to drink in Maud is to live in a shadow.
Throughout,
there are characters whose lives reverberate from the main ones.
Michael Daly, a young American-influenced priest practicing a
religion of which he is dubious, tutors Sheila in Maud’s absence,
creating a protégé. Then
there is Sheila's future husband Donal whom she meets at The Home, a
boarding school for the handicapped, and whom Nesbitt uses as
vehicle for Sheila's emerging self-awareness through the idea of
equal love. And, there
is Liam and Christy -- two men Sheila and Maud meet while summering
in Fanore with Mam and Kitty. Fanore
and the men serve as carefree contrasts to the story's 1970s
Northern Irish-conflict setting.
The
main irony is in Nesbitt's morally weak characters -- since they are
the ones to fall. Strong-bodied
Liam is self-consumed in his involvement with the IRA.
His passion and haste pave the path for an early death.
Maud, sexually gracing the bodies of men, winds up pregnant
then worse.
At
book's end Sheila, emerging from Maud's shadow, finds her own light.
A final meeting with Michael Daly uncovers a surprising truth
about Maud's death, for which Sheila has felt unrelenting need to
investigate and chronicle, thus beginning her on a new career in
journalism. How apt the
amputation of Maud from her life leaves her stronger.
Nesbitt
uses a simple style to present an atypical heroine who is proof
freedom rings from within. The
book's one tragedy is that it hasn't achieved the fame it deserves.
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