ARRIGAN, Mary 1943-

PERSONAL: Born February 15, 1943, in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland; daughter of Brendan Nolan (a health inspector) and Marian Maher; married Emmet Arrigan (an English teacher), August 17, 1968; children: Emmett, Conor, Caoimhe. Education: Attended Holy Family Convent, National College of Art and Design, and University College, Dublin.

ADDRESSES: Home—Abbey Lodge, Roscrea, County Tipperary, Ireland. Agent—Ed Victor, 6 Bayley St., Bedford Square, London WC1B 3HB, England. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Taught art at the secondary level for twenty years; retired in 1994 to write full time.

MEMBER: Irish Writers Union, Children's Books Ireland.

AWARDS, HONORS: Sunday Times/CWA Short Story Award, 1991; Hennessy Literary Award, 1993; Bisto Award shortlist, Children's Book Ireland, 1994, for Lá le mamó; Readers' Association Award shortlist, 1995, for Mamó cois trá; White Raven Title, International Youth Library, 1997, for The Dwellers Beneath; Bisto Merit Award, 2000, for Siúlóid bhreá.

WRITINGS:

for children

Andy, Zeph and the Flying Cottage, illustrated by Jennifer Bell, Hamish Hamilton (London, England), 1994.

Searching for the Green, Attic Press (Dublin, Ireland), 1995.

Dead Monks and Shady Deals, illustrated by Terry Myler, Children's Press (Dublin, Ireland), 1995.

Saving the Dark Planet, Attic Press (Dublin, Ireland), 1995.

Landscape with Cracked Sheep, illustrated by Terry Myler, Children's Press (Dublin, Ireland, and Chester Springs, PA), 1996.

The Dwellers Beneath, Attic Press (Dublin, Ireland), 1996.

Seascape with Barber's Harp, illustrated by Terry Myler, Children's Press (Dublin, Ireland, and Chester Springs, PA), 1997.

The Spirits of the Bog, Children's Press (Chester Springs, PA), 1998.

(And illustrator) Nutty Knut, Poolbeg Press (Dublin, Ireland), 1999.

Maeve and the Long-Arm Folly, illustrated by Terry Myler, Children's Press (Chester Springs, PA), 1999.

Grimstone's Ghost, Collins (London, England), 2000.

(And illustrator) Knut and Freya in Wales, Poolbeg Press (Dublin, Ireland), 2000.

The Spirits of the Attic, Children's Press (Chester Springs, PA), 2000.

Ghost Bird, Red Fox (London, England), 2001.

Baldur's Bones, Collins (London, England), 2001.

Pa Jinglebob: The Fastest Knitter in the West, illustrated by Korky Paul, Egmont (London, England), 2002.

Lawlor's Revenge, Collins (London, England), 2002.

Larkspur and the Grand March, illustrated by Debbie Boon, Egmont (London, England), 2003.

Contributor of short stories to Scream, Poolbeg Press (Dublin, Ireland), 1998, and Mirrors, Collins (London, England), 2001. Arrigan's works have been translated into German, Dutch, Polish, Swedish, and Danish.

in gaelic

(Self-illustrated) Lá le mamó (title means "A Day with Gran"), An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland), 1993.

(Illustrator) Caitlín Uí Anluain, Mac Dathó agus a chú, An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland), 1994.

(Self-illustrated) Mamó cois trá (title means "Gran at the Seaside"), An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland), 1994.

(Self-illustrated) An maicín cliste (title means "The Clever Nephew"), An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland), 1995.

(Self-illustrated) An scáth báistí (title means "The Umbrella"), An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland), 1995.

(Self-illustrated) An bhó fhionn (title means "The White Cow"), An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland), 1996.

(Self-illustrated) Mamó ar an fheirm (title means "Gran on the Farm"), An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland), 1996.

(Illustrator) Emmett Arrigan and Elisabeth Monkhouse, Daisy Bates, An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland), 1996.

(Self-illustrated) Mamó ag an sorcas (title means "Gran at the Circus"), An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland), 1997.

(Illustrator) Bram Stoker, Dracula (adapted for children by Emmett Arrigan), An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland), 1997.

(Self-illustrated) Siúlóid bhreá (title means "A Grand Walk"), An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland), 1999.

(Translator) Marcus Pfister, An t-iasc ildathach, North South Books (New York, NY), 2001.

Also author and illustrator of Mamó ag an zú (title means "Gran at the Zoo"), An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland); illustrator of Gearóidín gabhar (title means "Geraldine the Goat"), An Gúm (Dublin, Ireland).

SIDELIGHTS: Mary Arrigan's ghost stories for young people have earned praise for their fine prose and thrilling suspense. Although she works with the materials of traditional horror, such as haunted houses, curses, and the undead, her novels also feature well-drawn and evocative settings as well as strong characterizations and humor, according to reviewers. In Ghost Bird, the curiosity of three children leads them into terror when they investigate the haunting of the Old Garvan House. Another haunted house is at the center of Arrigan's novel Grimstone's Ghost, in which a twelve year old travels with his mother and sister to inherit the family mansion. Brother and sister are at the mercy of Captain Grimstone, the ghost of their ancestor's worst enemy, when they are left alone one night at the house, and they must find a golden goblet in order to free the family from the terrible curse.

The undead rise again in Arrigan's novel Baldur's Bones, in which fourteen-year-old Finn goes to live with relatives in remote Ireland after being orphaned. There, he finds not only a true friend but also the skull of an ancient Viking warrior in a nearby graveyard. Taking possession of the skull, however, Finn unwittingly unleashes the power of its original possessor, and the teenager finds himself caught between two ancient spirits, one evil and one that needs his help. As in reviews of Arrigan's earlier novels, critics found much to praise about this book, including a highly suspenseful plot, likable characters whose emotional lives are well explored, and welcome dashes of puckish humor that lighten the tension. Robert Dunbar, writing in Books for Keeps, called Baldur's Bones a "skillfully structured and extremely atmospheric novel." School Librarian reviewer Sarah Merrett offered similar laudatory comments, calling Baldur's Bones "more than just a ghost story." While still "being a fast-paced thriller," the novel, according to Merrett, "deals sensitively with deep emotions."

Arrigan told CA: "As children growing up in a small Irish town in the 1950s, our highlight of the week was the visit to the library. The children's section (which opened only on Saturdays) was tucked under the stairs. We were allowed two books—one fiction and one non-fiction. I can still smell the wet raincoats as we crowded to reach for the well-thumbed Enid Blytons. The two-book allowance would, of course, be read by Monday. Thus was born a sister/brotherhood of wheeling and dealing the unlawful swapping of books. The best known gangsters must have cut their teeth in libraries like ours—who else but a knobbly-kneed godfather with adenoids and patchy haircut could allocate book-swaps for a penny and have all the books back to the original borrowers before the following Saturday?

"But I had a secret stash. My father was a health inspector. As such he was obliged to remove and burn library books from houses struck down with tuberculosis, polio, and other contagious diseases, to prevent the spread of same. But my father, a scholarly book lover and sometime creative writer himself, could never bring himself to destroy books. So my brother Gabriel and I had the choice of all these disease-ridden books. Mighty. There's nothing like the threat of a throat-gurgling death to make a book more exciting and fire the imagination.

"My brother became more interested in the diseases rather than the books and went on to become a doctor. Me? My imagination is still on fire, and I still think fondly of those wet raincoats as I write for the child who never quite leaves that special part of our minds."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

periodicals

Books for Keeps, September, 2001, Rudolf Loewenstein, review of Ghost Bird, p. 24; November, 2001, Robert Dunbar, review of Baldur's Bones, pp. 29-30.

School Librarian, spring, 2001, Peter Hollindale, review of Grimstone's Ghost, p. 24; autumn, 2001, Deepa Earnshaw, review of Ghost Bird, p. 135; winter, 2001, Sarah Merrett, review of Baldur's Bones, p. 210.