A Penguin Books volume of short stories by Frank O'Connor entitled My Oedipus Complex and Other Stories contains one called First Confession. I love this timeless story and hope you will too.
Only eight-and-a-half pages long, it describes in great honesty and simplicity the trials of a young Irish boy who has to put up with frequent torment by his sister, the rough manners of his granny, and overcome his great fear of having to confess his sins for the first time.
It did not help that his mother was unable to take him to make his first confession and sent his sister instead. She taunts him all the way to the chapel.
Excerpt:
'Isn't it a terrible pity you weren't a good boy? Oh, Jackie, my heart bleeds for you!'
Another excerpt:
'There you are!' she said with a yelp of triumph, hurling me through the church door.' And I hope he'll give you the penitential psalms, you dirty little caffler.'
Penguin Books first published these stories in 1963, but they had been previously printed in 1953 and 1957 by Hamish Hamilton. Frank O'Connor is the pseudonym of Michael O'Donovan (1903-1966).
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Hey! Thanks for visiting my blog. I appreciate your kind words - it's nice to know people enjoy it. I don't really think I read THAT many books - lots of bloggers read more than me! But I don't watch a lot of TV, so that helps.
ReplyDeleteYou asked how to put pictures on a blog. When you are creating a new post, on the line where you can change font, etc, there is a little square on the right side that, if you click, will allow you to add an image. I usually download my images from B&N website onto my computer first, and then upload from my computer. Hope that helps!