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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