Julia M. Crottie (1853 – about 1930), sometimes seen as Julia Crotty, was an Irish novelist who detailed rural life in Ireland, writing during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Early life

Crottie was born in 1853 in Lismore,

County Waterford County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region. It is named ...

. She was educated at the Presentation Convent school in

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, before emigrating to America.

Career

Writing

Crottie wrote short stories and novels, and contributed to periodicals, including ''

Catholic World ''The Catholic World'' was a periodical founded by Paulist Father Isaac Thomas Hecker in April 1865. It was published by the Paulist Fathers for over a century. According to Paulist Press, Hecker "wanted to create an intellectual journal for a g ...

.'' Her stories about Ireland featured satirical portrayals of the people who emigrated from Ireland, returned or never got to emigrate. Her work portrayed some of the less pleasant features of small town rural Ireland. Many of her stories were set in fictional Innesdoyle, substantially based on Lismore, of which she wrote, "Nobody who has not lived in a stagnant town like Innisdoyle can know to what blackness of malice... suspicion may lead".

Reception

Crottie was compared by the ''

Glasgow Herald ''The Herald'' is a Scottish broadsheet newspaper founded in 1783. ''The Herald'' is the longest running national newspaper in the world and is the eighth oldest daily paper in the world. The title was simplified from ''The Glasgow Herald'' in ...

'' to

Edgeworth Edgeworth may refer to: People * Edgeworth (surname) Places * Edgeworth, Gloucestershire, England * Edgeworth, New South Wales, Australia * Edgeworth, Pennsylvania, USA * Edgeworth Island, Nunavut, Canada * Edgeworthstown, County Longford, Repu ...

and Carleton. She was a correspondent of

Katharine Tynan Katharine Tynan (23 January 1859 – 2 April 1931)Clarke, Frances (2013)"Hinkson (née Tynan), Katharine Tynan" in ''Dictionary of Irish Biography'' (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). was an Irish writer, known mainly for her novels and p ...

and of Edmund Downey, among other Irish literary figures. "I have heard it said that Miss Crottie shows us too much of what is unlovely and pitiful, and mean," commented critic Justin McCarthy in 1901, "but the complaint seems to me to be about as unreasonable as it would be to find fault with Charles Dickens" for similar unlikeable characters. Crottie's first novel, ''Neighbors,'' was presented to King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria an ...

when he stayed at

Lismore Castle Lismore Castle ( ga, Caisleán an Lios Mhóir) is a castle located in the town of Lismore, County Waterford in the Republic of Ireland. It belonged to the Earls of Desmond, and subsequently to the Cavendish family from 1753. It is currently the ...

in 1904.

Personal life

She moved from the United States to the

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for a time. She died about 1930, in her seventies.

Selected works

*''The Nest in Kilcrona'' (serialized novel in ''The Current'', 1883) *''Neighbours: Annals of a Dull Town'' (novel, 1900) *''The Lost Land: A Tale of a Cromwellian-Irish Town, Being the Autobiography of Miss Annita Lombard, 1780-87'' (novel, 1901) *''Innisdoyle Neighbours'' (novel, 1920)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crottie, Julia 1853 births 1930s deaths Irish women novelists People from Lismore, County Waterford Writers from County Waterford 19th-century Irish novelists 20th-century Irish novelists