SOURCE: A review of Light a Penny Candle, in Washington Post Book World, Vol. 13, No. 18, May 1, 1983, p. 10.

In the following review, Drabelle offers a positive assessment of Light a Penny Candle, but argues that the novel drags toward the end.

[Light a Penny Candle] is worth reading for its insults alone. Much of it takes place in the clannish Irish village of Kilgarret, where—abstinence being the only permissible birth-control method—the field of sibling rivalry can expand to near-geopolitical proportions. In this setting privacy is harder to maintain than prosperity, and the frustrated inhabitants cope with their confinement by lashing out at one another.

Some of the punchiest remarks are directed to and from Eamonn O'Connor, a mid-level brother in one of the town's leading families. His sister Maureen finally became engaged to Brendan Daly after a non-whirlwind courtship. “Their walking-out period had been considered long even...