"The Cloud Catchers"

(Reviewed by Judi Clark MAR 22, 1998)

When I read Songs in Ordinary Times, I was reminded of this book even though the stories are not similar. I think it's the voice they made me think of it. Anyhow, in The Cloud Catchers a dutiful daughter is forced to flee her home in the Irish countryside after being raped by her father. Despite everything that happens to her, she learns to make her own way and to even find love and forgiveness of sorts.

I picked this one up at a public library for fifty cents.  (An old sailor's trick - when passing through towns you can sometimes buy library books...)  I hope not all libraries have rid themselves of this book because it is a wonderful read.

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Bibliography: (with links to Amazon.com)

• Fallen Angels: Endless Race (1975)
• Fallen Angels: String Horses (1976)
• Fallen Angels: Turnstiles (1977)
• The Cloud Catchers (1979)
• Penny Links (1981)
• Wider Pools (1983)
• Eric's Choice (1984)
• Help Me Please (1991)

Triology

• Tin Toys (1986)
• The Unicorn Sisters (1988)
• The Bubble Garden (1989)

 

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Book Marks:

• Some words on Tin Toys: a "mordantly humorous exploration of a child's world with all its subversive horrors."

 

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About the Author:

Ursula Holden was born in 1921. She is noted as one of the artists to have spent time at the Millay Colony for Artists. She has also written several introductions to Barbara Comyns' novels.