Mary Alice Baluck

Heaven's Doorway Mary Alice Baluck

Three countries. Three generations. Three strong women.

Set between the late 1800s and the 1920s in Ireland, Canada, and the United States, this is a story of deep love and tragic loss, of rejection and eventual acceptance, and of moral progress from self-centeredness to compassion. Even the citizens of Herron's Point mature beyond their provincial narrow-mindedness as the town grows in size and popularity in the new century.

After young Brigid Walsh marries Patrick Mahoney, she moves with him from Ireland to Canada. When Patrick is killed, she quickly goes from prosperity to a life of unrelenting hard work running a boarding house.

Maggie Mahoney, Brigid's daughter, works as hard as any servant. At the same time, her mother provides her with a good education, and she dreams of bright marital prospects for her beautiful daughter. When those dreams are shattered in a terrible way, Brigid cannot accept either the truth or the good man who comes to Maggie's rescue. Fleeing rejection by both her mother and the town, Maggie and Tim cross Lake Erie to the United States.

Maura Ryan, Maggie's daughter, loses her father and then her mother at an early age, but she and her younger brother find a home with their Uncle Jack and his family in Buffalo, New York. Later, the bright and hardworking Maura thrives as a bookkeeper for Jack's lumber business. Love and unexpected fortune both come her way, but so do tragic revelations connected with her mother's past.

Along with the dozens of well-drawn characters, Lake Erie is an abiding and powerful presence: sometimes menacing, but much more often majestic and calming. The glorious sunsets, a glimpse of "Heaven's Doorway," are a lovely visual leitmotif.