THE STORY OF CHICAGO MAY

Memoirist O'Faolain gave herself the dubious task of filling in the biographical blanks in the public accounts of fellow Irish immigrant "Chicago" May Duignan, a thief and prostitute of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born into rural poverty, May stole her family's savings to cross the Atlantic and embark on a nefarious career based on her physical attractiveness and ruthlessness. Clearly identifying with her subject, the author fattens the thin skein of known facts with speculations on the antiheroine's motivations and milieu. The music of the Emerald Isle can be heard in Terry Donnelly's voice. She sweetens the tale and contributes her own natural charm, in particular vivifying quotes from May's autobiography with unremorseful sass. Y.R. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine [Published: OCT/ NOV 06]