Mary Lavin, 83; Prize-Winning Irish Author of Novels, Stories

Mary Lavin, who depicted the narrow subtleties of Irish small town life in short stories and novels, has died. She was 83.

The prize-winning writer died Monday in a Dublin nursing home.

In a Los Angeles Times review of a book about Irish women writers in 1990, Thomas Cahill characterized Lavin’s work as representing “surely the boldest tradition of women writers in all literature.”

Born in East Walpole, Mass., Lavin moved to Ireland as a child and was educated at Loreto College and University College in Dublin.

In 1942, she published her first collection of short stories, “Tales from Bective Bridge.” It won the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and established her literary reputation.

Spurred by its success, she wrote prolifically. Her 19 collections of short stories included “The Long Ago” in 1944, “The Becker Wives” in 1946, “A Single Lady” in 1957, “In the Middle of the Fields” in 1966 and “The Shrine and Other Stories” in 1976.

Her first novel, “The House in Clewe Street,” was published in 1945. The second, “Mary O’Grady,” appeared in 1950.

A recognizably Irish Catholic writer, she created such characters as forlorn spinsters, sprightly nuns, mothers mourning long-dead sons, and bitterly antagonistic sisters. Subtle, lucid and shrewdly observed, her writing featured themes that combined a sense of sorrow with hints of mystery.

Among her many awards were Guggenheim Fellowships in 1959, 1962 and 1972 and the Katherine Mansfield Prize in 1961.

In 1971, she was president of the Irish Academy of Letters.