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MARY BEHAN is a retired Professor of Neuroscience. During her thirty-year career at the University of Wisconsin-Madison she taught veterinary students, and trained graduate students and postdoctoral fellows in her research laboratory. She devotes her time to writing fiction, memoir and short stories. Her first book, Abbey Girls, is a memoir she wrote with her sister about their childhood and boarding school experiences in Ireland in the 1950s and 60s. Mary recently published her first novel, A Measured Thread. She lives with her husband in a historic log cabin overlooking a tallgrass prairie in the Driftless Area of southwestern Wisconsin.
Reviewed by Deborah Lloyd for Readers' Favorite
Maggie O’Connor had lived eighty years and continued to be a strong, assertive woman. She lived in a cabin in rural Wisconsin that she and her deceased husband loved. With the occasional assistance of a young man, Vic, and other neighbors, she maintained her independence until a fall on the cellar steps. She hired a young woman, Isobel, to perform necessary household tasks during her recovery. Both had emigrated to the United States as young women – Maggie from Ireland, and Isobel from Canada. Maggie’s determination to stay in her home was jeopardized by neighbor Bill Breunig who threatened to purchase her property. As Maggie knew her time on earth was ending, she struggled with past decisions and revealed a secret to Isobel. In the gripping novel, A Measured Thread by Mary Behan, a tale of complicated relationships and emotions unfold.
The author constructs a plot with many twists and turns, building to an unforeseen ending. The character of Maggie is complex as her past is unveiled, bit by bit. As a retired science professor, she was professionally successful but she harbored painful life events. The author skillfully crafted this main character, as well as Isobel and Vic. Both characters are essential to the story, providing support and solutions to Maggie’s current dilemmas. Another charming feature of this book includes the colorful descriptions of Maggie’s Wisconsin property in the valley and the visit to her Irish homeland. Author Mary Behan has penned a remarkable novel in A Measured Thread. It is poignant in many ways, fully demonstrating the circle of life.
