The Dowry

The young people of Coshlawn Crann in rural Ireland simply aren't marrying and properly propagating in the hardscrabble postwar 1946. It's all about the economy, and Father Donovan isn't above using the power of his collar to lean on two locals who can get something done: rich skinflint farmer Tom McDermott and publican Austin Glynn (some of whose wealth comes from bank robberies long ago in the Bronx). Tom's older son, Martin, the town Lothario, soon finds himself engaged to Austin's daughter, Aideen, a good-hearted girl with a face "like the back of a bus." Biking home from popping the question, Martin runs into Barney Murphy's donkey on the bridge, tumbles into the river and is believed drowned. He quickly decides to stay dead and slips off to London—where he soon wearies of actually having to work and starts dreaming about Aideen's dowry. Ex-priest Keady (The Altruist ) writes with authority about matters of the church. He's also a sharp plotter, and his characters shine: from Brideen Conway, the comely schoolteacher Father Donovan loves a little too much, to strap-happy schoolmaster Alphonsus Finnerty, who secretly writes romances as "Laura Devon." The multiple happy endings may be inevitable, but they're earned. (Mar.)