Works by
Maureen Brady
(Writer)

• Fiction

  • Novels

  • Short Stories

• Non-fiction

Fiction

Novels

• Folly (1994)
  Folly tells the story of women without men, divorced or widowed or lesbian, workers in a textile plant in North Carolina in the 1970s, who are neighbors in a trailer camp, along with their aging mothers and teenage daughters. What brings them together-black women as well as white women-is the death of a sick baby left necessarily at home alone because there were no health care provisions in the male owned and run factory. After the baby's death, the women decide to strike. The novel records the winning of that strike, and, at the same time, the inner lives of the younger and older characters surrounding the major strike leaders. It is an optimistic, witty, and dramatic book, rare in that it depicts black and white women working as peers together, and rare in that it depicts a world not often to be found in literature.

• Give Me Your Good Ear (1994)
  This is Francie's story. Francie weaves a new life for herself by untying the knots that have kept her in bondage: a childhood terrorized by an alcoholic father and a secret of violence shared with her mother.

• Ginger's Fire (2003)
  From Maureen Brady, previously nominated for an ALA Gay Book Award, comes Ginger's Fire, an absorbing tale of rebirth, redemption, and finally finding the way back home.
  In quiet, understated prose, Ginger's Fire tells the story of one woman's painful but very necessary rebirth and awakening. Ginger and Nellie have finally realized their dream: after years of hard work, they have completely restored a beautiful old farmhouse in the Catskill Mountains. But as the house has come together, their relationship has been silently slipping away. When, after all their labors, their beloved home is destroyed in a catastrophic fire, Ginger and Nellie begin to move apart, and Ginger must begin an arduous journey to discover her own long-absent passion and inner fire. As Ginger delves into her past, discovering the river of alcoholism and dependency that runs through her life, she learns to value her own strength once more.
  
  At times Ginger's road is a lonely one, but she finds comfort with Esther, a wise and appealing therapist, and Roxy, a sexpot gardener who pulls no punches when it comes to pleasure. With their help, Ginger begins to see the repeating patterns of her life, from her unhappy childhood to her repressed adulthood. Time ripples backward and then blends with the present as Ginger exorcises the demons brought to life by the fire and the breakup.

Short Stories

• Question She Put to Herself (1987)

Non-fiction

• Daybreak: Meditations for Women Survivors of Sexual Abuse (1991)
  These 366 daily affirmations and meditations extend support and wisdom to women who have survived childhood sexual abuse. With understanding, compassion, and strength, the author addresses issues such as intimacy, fear, play, sharing secrets, and anger. She also shares her personal knowledge of sexual abuse to illustrate that we can not only survive, but thrive.

• Beyond Survival: A Writing Journey for Healing Childhood Sexual Abuse (1992)

• Midlife: Mediations for Women (1995)
  The first and only meditation book to address all of women's joys and concerns as they navigate the mid-life passage--daily affirmations and sage advice on hot flashes, mood swings, wisdom gained, and innocence lost.

Other

• Just Like A Girl: A Manifesta (Spring 2008), Michelle Sewel, ed.
  See "Five 'n Dime".

• Bellevue Literary Review ( March 2008)
  See "Billy's Mark".

• Intersections: Fiction and Poetry from The Banff Centre for the Arts (2000), Edna Alford and Rhea Tregebov, eds.
  Since 1984, writers from around the world have spent time in the artist studios at The Banff Centre. This collection of fiction and poetry from thirty-four of those writers gathers the threads of this unique creative community, bringing together remarkable intersections of setting, story, tone, and character.

• Cabbage and Bones: An Anthology of Irish-American Women's Fiction (1997), Caledonia Kearns, ed.
  See "Achill Ancestors and a Stranger"

• The Sorrow of a Donor Dad (2000)
  Originally titled In the Family

• Mom (Date?)