SOURCE: A review of Mother of Pearl, in Library Journal, Vol. 120, No. 11, June 15, 1995, p. 96.

[In the following review, the critic relates the plot of Mother of Pearl, describing it as a "haunting first novel."]

Emotionally needy Irene and Stanley meet in a tuberculosis sanitorium in 1940s Dublin [in Mary Morrissy's Mother of Pearl]. Irene has remained on as an aide after recovering from the disease, and Stanley, the quintessential mama's boy, has come to sit by his mother's deathbed. Their hasty marriage soon founders when Stanley's impotence causes them both unending pain and embarrassment in dealing with the speculation of prying neighbors about a hoped-for baby. This leads Irene down a dangerous path where she first fabricates a pregnancy and is later driven to snatch an infant from a hospital nursery. Amid random acts of everyday violence, the consequences of this outrageous act resonate down through the years...