Only with Blood by Therese Down
Caitlin Spillane is a young woman with a dream. She lives with her family in Ireland in the 1940's. Her sister, Maureen, also has a plan for her future. She wants to become a nun. In Only with Blood by Therese Down, if a young woman dreams the right dream, things will go well for her. For Maureen who chooses to become a nun, there is joy all around in the family. Caitlin's dream is very different. She wants to go to the university, Trinity university in Dublin. She loves learning and looks forward to discovering new ideas. Her dream seems like "codology" stuff and nonsense. The novel is very painful to read and is a reminder of a time when girl-women were treated like chattel. It helped me to remember how far women have come in the Twenty - first century. What I found as insane was the fact that Caitlin's father does not tell Caitlin his plans for her marriage. He is going to sell Caitlin, his daughter, to Jack Flynn for a measly five hundred