Mary Beckett was born in Belfast in 1926 and died on November 12, 2013. Beckett was a teacher in Ardoyne, Belfast until her marriage in 1956. Mary began writing short stories when she was twenty-three but stopped to bring up her five children. This sojourn lasted for twenty years and she returned with the brilliant A Literary Woman. She was awarded The Sunday Tribute Arts Award for Literature in 1987. Mary Beckett writes about ordinary people in ordinary situations. She also writes about ordinary people in non-ordinary situations, such as stressful situations. Her great ability is the portrayal of life as being a continuance, as life goes on no matter what happens. Good and bad things happen, but life goes on, and we must make the best of it. For Mary Beckett, it is often a question of balance. Her protagonists, usually women, because they are usually the ones who bear the strain, balance the outward face of middle-class respectability with the harshness of a lower class poverty. This poverty is often brought on by male alcoholism, which strips the family of desperately needed funds as well as any kind of dignity.
Book Review:Mary Beckett - A Literary WomanMary Beckett's return to writing after a twenty-year gap to bring up her five children. She has not lost any of her nerve, insightfulness or power of voice in that time.
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