A Cottage in Donegal, Mary Doherty's Story

By: Eva Doherty Gremmert

Narrated by: Mary Doherty the Saddler

A Cottage in Donegal opens in 1919 with a rural Irish woman writing about her husband’s death and burial.

In the depth of her grief, as Mary is all alone in their bedroom for the first time in over 50 years, she feels the intense need to record everything so that she will not forget him.

Almost 10 years later, she finds the account that she wrote of those long, heart rending days at the bottom of her own knitting basket. She decides to write the story of her life so that her posterity will appreciate the strong legacy that was passed on to them.

Mary is an old woman, with over 80 years of experiences and memories. So, over the next three years, she hides the fact from her family that she is recording her life.

From that point, the story is chronological, beginning first with her birth in 1847 and culminating with her death in 1932.

Mary “Hudie” Doherty lived her entire life in the same townland in County Donegal, Ireland. Her story is informative, historically accurate, and draws the listener into a 19th century Irish country woman’s life. It is an entertaining and evocative listen.

The book, written in memoir form, is from Mary’s perspective.

©2011 Eva Doherty Gremmert (P)2019 Eva Doherty Gremmert

Brilliant touching and understated.

If ever there was a story you should hear, it is this one. It is honest and true and tells of the country men of And including Mary as their children leave to make a better way in the world. l guarantee you will feel all the emotions of this woman throughout her life. Surprisingly this book appeared in the week l was researching my Irish Donegal ancestors and wondering of their lives. So for me it was a double blessing to glimpse a life and time then and also this book on its own is a silent masterpiece. I recommend it to any book club, Irish descendants and all out there that value a well told story.
The narration, music and scriptive verse are perfect.

A very moving story of rural Ireland

This historical fiction novel about my wife, Eva’s, ancestors is an awesome work that will be cherished by many and loved by family and friends. I laughed and cried and learned much in reading this engaging book.