A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd

A Swift Pure Cry by Siobhan Dowd

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Shell Talent has a tough life. Her mother has died, her father is an alcoholic who has become obsessed with religion and terrorizes his children. Shell must be mother, father and a teen in the south of Ireland in 1084. When she becomes pregnant by her classmate Declan who then runs away to American, Shell can't bear to get an abortion, she hides her pregnancy from her father, friends, & those in her village. But she cannot hide it from her brother and sister. So one night, she gives birth and falls in love with her baby girl. But unfortunately, the baby is still born and all three children go into their field and bury the baby with stones to mark the grave. Imagine Shell's surprise when the police come to her house to question her about a dead baby boy found in an inlet and her father has confessed. A spellbinding mystery unfolds with Shell at the center of a scandal, but she continues to show courage and honesty in the face of adversity. This is a Reading Olympic book this year, I am not sure this book will appeal to all students, but for those who persevere, they will learn alot about the pluck of a young Irish girl.

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