''Tales from Bective Bridge'' is a collection of ten short stories concerning rural Ireland and its populace by the writer

Mary Lavin Mary Josephine Lavin (10 June 1912 – 25 March 1996) wrote short stories and novels. An Irishwoman, she is now regarded as a pioneer in the field of women's writing. The well-known Irish writer Lord Dunsany mentored Lavin after her father appr ...

, born an American, who returned along with her family to Ireland in 1925. The collection was first published in 1942, with the assistance of

Lord Dunsany Edward John Moreton Drax Plunkett, 18th Baron of Dunsany (; 24 July 1878 – 25 October 1957, usually Lord Dunsany) was an Anglo-Irish writer and dramatist. Over 90 volumes of fiction, essays, poems and plays appeared in his lifetime.Lanham, M ...

, who also wrote the introduction. The collection established her as a writer of note and won the

James Tait Black Memorial Prize The James Tait Black Memorial Prizes are literary prizes awarded for literature written in the English language. They, along with the Hawthornden Prize, are Britain's oldest literary awards. Based at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Unit ...

in 1943. The bridge of the title, Bective Bridge, lies not far from what was her home, Abbey Farm, near

Bective Abbey Bective Abbey ( ga, Mainistir Bheigthí) is a Cistercian abbey on the River Boyne in Bective, County Meath, Ireland. The abbey was founded in 1147, and the remaining (well-preserved) structure and ruins primarily date to the 15th century. Th ...

, between Bective and Robinstown in Meath.

Bibliography

*''Tales From Bective Bridge'', Little, Brown, 1942 *

References

*''Catholic women writers: a bio-bibliographical sourcebook'' Reichardt, Mary R., 2001 *New York Times article on Mary Lavin

*Article by Donna L. Potts

Irish short stories 1942 short story collections Michael Joseph books {{Ireland-stub