Meggie clings to Ralph de Bricassart, her steady tutor and companion, now that Frank is gone and Hal is dead. Hal, Meggie’s beloved younger brother, dies soon after. Fee has twin boys, James and Patrick (Jims and Patsy), but is uninterested in them. Frank has always been Fee’s favorite child since he resembled her lost love.įrank flees after a dispute with Paddy to become a prizefighter. Frank, the outcome, was already 18 months old when Fee married Paddy. Frank resents the several pregnancies that Paddy has forced her to suffer.įee, now in her forties, discovers she is pregnant again the two men argue angrily, and Paddy informs Frank that he is not his biological son.įee, the daughter of a well-known New Zealander, has been exposed to have had an affair with a married politician. He loves every one of the Clearys, but especially lonely little Meggie.įrank has never had a good relationship with his father, Paddy. Ralph dismisses her attentions and ploys and resumes his visits. Ralph is described as “a handsome man,” and Mary goes to considerable efforts to persuade him to violate his vows. Ralph has made friends with Mary Carson, anticipating that a large donation from her to the Catholic Church could free him from exile. He has been sent to a rural parish in the town of Gillanbone, near Drogheda, as punishment for disrespecting a bishop. The family meets Ralph de Bricassart, a young, capable, and ambitious priest, in Drogheda.
When Paddy receives an offer from Mary to work on her estate, the entire Cleary family relocates from New Zealand to Australia in 1921. Paddy has a wealthy sister, Mary Carson, a widow who lives on Drogheda, a massive sheep station in New South Wales, Australia. He has black hair and eyes, which he received from his Maori great-great-grandmother, unlike the other Clearys. He is significantly shorter than his brothers, yet he is extremely strong.
Her favorite sibling is the eldest, Frank, a rebellious young man who is reluctantly training to be a blacksmith. Meggie is a gorgeous youngster with curling red-gold hair, but she receives little coddling and must strive to hold her own in the family, which at the time includes five older brothers. Meghann “Meggie” Cleary, the only daughter of Padraic (“Paddy”), an Irish farm laborer, and Fiona (“Fee”), his wife, was born on December 8, 1915, in New Zealand.
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