From Publishers Weekly
Bourke (The Burning of Bridget Cleary) writes a sensitive biography of writer Brennan, who came to the U.S. from Ireland as a teenager (her father was the first Irish ambassador to the U.S.) and in 1949, in her early 30s, joined the New Yorker to write about women's fashion. Tiny, fiercely intelligent and impeccably groomed, Brennan was cherished by her colleagues. William Maxwell, a close friend, edited her stories—mainly fictionalized accounts of her Irish childhood, which he greatly admired—for the magazine. She also wrote a "Talk of the Town" column under the pseudonym "The Long-Winded Lady." Yet behind the archly sophisticated persona, Bourke writes, was a fragile, alienated woman who, following a failed marriage to fellow writer St. Clair McKelway, drifted into an eccentric middle age and serious mental breakdown before leaving the New Yorker. She died in an obscure nursing home in 1993. Bourke, who teaches at University College, Dublin, draws a portrait rich in New Yorker history and modern Irish feminist history alike, one likely to do much to foster a new readership for Brennan's work. 8 pages of b&w photos. Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
There are writers whose lives and works are so synonymous with a sense of place that to visit that location, whether in print or in person, is to feel their spirit in every building and around every corner. Brennan was one such writer, and her works evoke the two very disparate worlds to which she belonged-- Dublin and Manhattan. Born in Ireland, Brennan immigrated with her family to America when she was a teenager. Her formative years in the villages and neighborhoods in and around Dublin influenced her work for the rest of her life, work that would span nearly four decades as one of the most prolific contributors of short stories, book reviews, and social commentary for the New Yorker as the "Long-Winded Lady." Conspicuously torn between her past and present, Brennan would eventually break under the pressure, ending her days in abject obscurity, penniless and homeless. Bourke's stellar biography captures the pain and promise, the tragedy and beauty of this mercurial, mesmerizing talent. Carol Haggas
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Witty, stylish, and beautiful, Maeve Brennan dazzled everyone who met her. Born in Dublin, she came to the U.S. with her father, Ireland's first Ambassador to America, and in her early thirties joined The New Yorker, where she was at the heart of the life of the magazine until she was nearly sixty. Under the pseudonym "The Long-Winded Lady," she wrote matchless urban postcards for the "Talk of the Town," and, under her own name, published fierce, intimate fiction. Today her forty-odd stories are anthology standards, prized by writers as different from one another as Alice Munro and Brennan's own nephew Roddy Doyle. But at the time of her death in 1993, she was obscure, indeed lost: She hadn't published a word since the 1970s, and she had slowly slipped into madness, ending as a bag lady in the streets of midtown Manhattan. It is Angela Bourke's achievement to trace this sad arc, and to bring her compelling personality to life. Thoroughly researched, beautifully written, and filled with a wealth of previously unpublished material, it will be welcomed by anyone interested in Ireland, The New Yorker, and a woman who remains one of the twentieth century's most distinctive prose stylists.

About the Author
Angela Bourke is the author of The Burning of Bridget Cleary, winner of the Irish Times Nonfiction Prize. A native of Dublin, she once lived on Cherryfield Avenue, the street that Maeve Brennan made famous in her stories. She is Senior Lecturer in Modern Irish at University College, Dublin, and has been a visiting professor at Harvard, Boston College, and the University of Minnesota. She lives in Dublin.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

"Witty, small, and beautiful, Maeve Brennan dazzled everyone who met her; "To be around her," said a colleague, "was to see style being invented." She was born in Dublin in 1917, and came to Washington in 1934 with her father, the Irish ambassador to the United States. Later, as a staff writer at Harper's Bazaar, she reveled in Manhattan's world of theater and fashion, until, in 1948, The New Yorker lured her away. Under the pseudonym "The Long-Winded Lady," she wrote matchless urban postcards for "Talk of the Town," and under her own name published fierce, intimate fiction - tales of childhood, marriage, exile, longing, and the unforgiving side of the Irish temper." Today her forty-odd stories, collected and republished posthumously, are prized by writers as different from one another as Penelope Fitzgerald, Mavis Gallant, and Alice Munro. William Maxwell called her masterpiece, "The Springs of Affection," one of the great short stories of the twentieth century. But at the time of her death in 1993, Maeve Brennan was lost to the world: she hadn't published a word since the 1970s and had slowly slipped into madness, ending up homeless on the streets of midtown Manhattan.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Angela Bourke. Counterpoint, $25 (352p) ISBN 1-58243-229-5 Bourke (The Burning of Bridget Cleary) writes a sensitive biography of writer Brennan, who came to the U.S. from Ireland as a teenager (her father was the first Irish ambassador to the U.S.) and in 1949, in her early 30s, joined the New Yorker to write about women's fashion. Tiny, fiercely intelligent and impeccably groomed, Brennan was cherished by her colleagues. William Maxwell, a close friend, edited her stories mainly fictionalized accounts of her Irish childhood, which he greatly admired for the magazine. She also wrote a "Talk of the Town" column under the pseudonym "The Long-Winded Lady." Yet behind the archly sophisticated persona, Bourke writes, was a fragile, alienated woman who, following a failed marriage to fellow writer St. Clair McKelway, drifted into an eccentric middle age and serious mental breakdown before leaving the New Yorker. She died in an obscure nursing home in 1993. Bourke, who teaches at University College, Dublin, draws a portrait rich in New Yorker history and modern Irish feminist history alike, one likely to do much to foster a new readership for Brennan's work. 8 pages of b&w photos. (Oct.) Forecast: Several volumes of Brennan's writings are in print in paperback editions, which would make a nice display with this fine biography. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

Maeve Brennan, a.k.a. The Long-Winded Lady, was famous in her heyday as a short story writer, a contributor to The New Yorker, and the glamorous daughter of Ireland's first ambassador to the United States. Brennan's confidence and talent won her a place in what was then an old boy's club, and today her writing is often anthologized. But in between her successes and her posthumous acclaim, Brennan had a disastrous marriage, was devastated by mental illness, and found herself homeless in her adopted home (she ended up as a bag lady on New York's streets). Irish academic Bourke (The Burning of Bridget Clearly) treats the potentially sensationalist story arc of Brennan's life with respect, seeing it as a "window on one of the most passionate and problematic periods of Irish cultural history." Well written, well researched, and compelling as this book is, it sometimes remains difficult to understand Brennan's motivations and decisions. Highly recommended for academic and larger public libraries, particularly those collecting in the areas of Irish or Irish diaspora literature, women's studies, or biography.-Terren Ilana Wein, Univ. of Chicago Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews