One of my favorite characters in Unmentionables is Mrs. MacMurrough. She's warm and wry with a distinctive voice that I love to write. Her name is a nod to a character in Jamie O'Neill's novel, At Swim, Two Boys, which is one of my favorite novels.
I'm pleased to say that Mrs. MacMurrough is back in All to Pieces. What's more, she's back with her favorite companions, Donahue, the black cat, and Mr. Mack, her co-conspirator in the Underground Railroad.
My inspiration photograph for Mrs. MacMurrough is this vintage photograph of Mary Jones, an Irish-born American schoolteacher who became a prominent labor and community organizer. She was born in County Cork, Ireland, which is also where my own great-grandmother, Anna Humble, was born. It was through Anna Humble and her daughter, my grandmother, Eliza Loyd, that I was first exposed to the Irish way of speaking.
Mary Jones is commonly known as "Mother" Jones. And the magazine, Mother Jones, was named for her.
I'm pleased to say that Mrs. MacMurrough is back in All to Pieces. What's more, she's back with her favorite companions, Donahue, the black cat, and Mr. Mack, her co-conspirator in the Underground Railroad.
My inspiration photograph for Mrs. MacMurrough is this vintage photograph of Mary Jones, an Irish-born American schoolteacher who became a prominent labor and community organizer. She was born in County Cork, Ireland, which is also where my own great-grandmother, Anna Humble, was born. It was through Anna Humble and her daughter, my grandmother, Eliza Loyd, that I was first exposed to the Irish way of speaking.
Mary Jones is commonly known as "Mother" Jones. And the magazine, Mother Jones, was named for her.