Telling tales about divorce

Nowadays nothing is sacred; men marry men; children divorce their parents; a mixed marriage hardly merits a yawn. But 50 years ago the world was a different place, particularly our world, on this small island." These lines taken from Dwelling Below the Skies by Liz McManus are just one sample of the many little gems of wisdom, human truths, and visions of life - warts and all which come springing out of If Only, a new collection of short stories by Irish women writers loosely based on the theme of love and divorce. Spurred by the introduction of divorce in Ireland last year, joint editors, Kate Cruise O'Brien of Poolbeg Press and Mary Maher, Irish Times journalist decided to ask 20 Irish women writers to contribute to a book, the royalties of which would be given to the Marriage and Relationship Counselling Service in Dublin. One refused (due to other commitments) and the other 19 responded with stories peopled with characters who express a diversity of feelings on the subject that is altogether refreshing. Contributors include hugely successful popular fiction writers such as Maeve Binchy and Patricia Scanlan alongside more literary writers like Jennifer Johnston, Mary Morrissy, Mary Dorcey and Ita Daly. Both editors of If Only also include a short story of their own.

"We had no wish to either celebrate or lament the introduction of divorce into Ireland but the fact that the debates of the 80s and early 90s roused so much passion and that the constitutional amendment was finally carried only by the narrowest margin in the State's history, is testimony to the depth of feelings about love, marriage and the family," says Mary Maher. But why look for a fictional response to something that represents such a concrete change in society? Kate Cruise O'Brien replies: "A lot of articles were written about divorce during and after the referendum, but I believe feelings are often better expressed through fiction. You can be truer and subtler about feelings when you are less polemical. The short story is one of the subtler forms of fiction." "It's not that we think that divorce is a good thing. It's not - divorce is a huge grief for children - but it is a release from an unhappy marriage," continues Cruise O'Brien. "Most writers were interested in marking the change in society and in attitude."

Given that we are marking such a monumental change in Irish society, wouldn't it have been even more enlightened to also include male voices?

"What we were interested in is the female view on the subject (although the book is not a feminist collection at all in that it is not polemical), not the authentic view.

"If it had included male voices it would have been very different. If it had been a collection of essays, I would have asked men to contribute but it isn't." And would they consider bringing out a second book on the subject by male writers? "I don't think so. It would look like we were trying to correct something and I don't feel bad about what we've done," says Kate Cruise O'Brien.

Mary Maher explains how one of the great ironies of divorce is that although women are usually the ones to instigate divorce proceedings, they do worse out of it in economic terms. "We thought we needed to do something positive and the Marriage and Relationship Counselling Service has huge problems getting funds."

She justifies the choice of female writers only with the following: "It seemed the most natural thing to do. It is women who take action to save marriages, women who first go into marriage counselling. It is women who are seeking better marriages and relationships.

So how did the writers themselves feel about being asked to contribute to a book marking this constitutional change in Irish society?

Maeve Binchy responded enthusiastically. "I think it was a great idea. So much writing in Ireland is about an Ireland that is dead and gone - including a lot of my own work. It's lovely to ask people to write a story about Ireland of the 90s. The book is not a hymn of praise for divorce and neither is it thundering against it." "People are not tied to old relationships any more. That doesn't mean life is any easier, it brings a whole different set of problems. I think it's also great that the royalties are going to the Marriage and Relationship Counselling service." Dallas-born Dublin-based writer, Sheila Barrett, believes the theme of love, marriage and divorce is of huge interest to writers. "Everyone has a story simmering on the subject. It was nice to have a focus. I immediately thought what I wanted to write about and I don't know whether I would have done so otherwise. Barrett story's is a sweet moral tale discouraging young marriages - "Always remember this, Jane Anne: don't marry too young," one of her characters advises. However, she says of a group of 10 close school friends, the only two still married are couples who married in their teens. "I guess it just shows you can't know what will happen socially."

Short story writer and playwright, Ivy Bannister, believes the theme of the book is a fascinating one. "It is a very imaginative and inventive thing to put together a book to raise funds, an enriching way to use talents. Divorce is a very absorbing topic. Many people talk about it endlessly."

Democratic Left TD, novelist and short story writer, Liz McManus, is one contributor who found the task challenging. "You become illiterate as a Minister and I find it extremely difficult to write anything in fiction now. I can say, this story was painfully written. It had to be dragged out of me."

If Only - short stories of love and divorce by Irish women writers, edited by Kate Cruise O'Brien and Mary Maher published by Poolbeg (£7.99) will be launched in Dublin next Thursday. Royalties from the book go to the Marriage and Relationship Counselling Service, Dublin.