SOURCE: Parini, Jay. “Dubliners.” New York Times Book Review (14 December 1997): 38.

In the following review of The Springs of Affection, Parini states that Brennan's narrowly focused fiction is realistic and simple, yet stylistically elegant.

Maeve Brennan moved from Ireland to the United States at the age of 17 and eventually became a staff writer at The New Yorker, publishing sketches and stories, book reviews and notes on fashion in the 1950's and 60's. She was also responsible for the “Talk of the Town” items billed as “communications from our friend the long-winded lady.” When Brennan died in 1993, after years of mental illness, her work had slipped from view. But now The Springs of Affection, introduced in suitably affectionate manner by her editor, William Maxwell, remedies that situation, bringing back into print stories from two collections that have long been unavailable.

Brennan's fictional turf here is a narrow one, occupying those...