The Love Object: Selected Stories

Coming of age, the impact of class, and familial and romantic love are the prevalent motifs in this collection, along with the instinct toward escape and subsequent nostalgia for home. Some of the stories are linked and some carry O'Brien's distinct sense of the comical. In ""A Rose in the Heart of New York,"" the single-mindedness of love dramatically derails the relationship between a girl and her mother, while in ""Sister Imelda"" and ""The Creature"" the strong ties between teacher and student and mother and son are ultimately broken. ""The Love Object"" recounts a passionate affair between the narrator and her older lover. The thirty-one stories collected in this volume provide, among other things, a cumulative portrait of Ireland, seen from within and without.