Tea and Green Ribbons: Evelyn's Story

Tea and Green Ribbons: Evelyn's Story

Author: Evelyn Doyle
Category: Women
ISBN: 9780743255035
Format : Paperback
Publisher : Free Press

  

Tea and Green Ribbons is the astonishing tale of a father's quest to reunite his family. In 1953 Evelyn Doyle's mother ran off with another man, leaving her husband in Dublin to care for their six small children. A local housepainter, Desmond Doyle has little money and no choice but to turn his kids over to Ireland's church-run industrial schools while he looks for work in England. But upon his return several months later, Desmond is unable to retrieve them from state custody. Evelyn Doyle is only seven when she arrives at the convent in High Park, where she will bask in the clean joys and lonely sorrows of life in the care of nuns. She will make friends, say her prayers, and watch time pass as Desmond tries, and fails, to engage Ireland's foremost legal experts in a fight against the Church and the government. It will be two years before Evelyn's release is granted by the Irish Supreme Court -- the first time in Irish legal history in which the justices take a child's wishes into consideration when reaching their decision. Tragic in its truths yet inspiring at every turn, Tea and Green Ribbons is a triumphant ode to the human spirit and a loving testament to the Irish experience.