The Maid's Tale

More about the book

This much acclaimed first novel is the story of a Catholic priest's housekeeper in Derry from the late fifties to the present day. Told by the housekeeper herself, it describes her childhood years spent in a Catholic orphanage, then convent school, to her service for the priest until she loses the position. Abuse of power is one of the book's themes, but it also dramatically chronicles the changing face of Northern Ireland over a thirty-year period.