In Sunshine or in Shadow

In 1995, Irish voters passed--by the narrowest margin in the country's history--a constitutional amendment lifting Ireland's ban on divorce. That pivotal moment spurred Maher and O'Brien to solicit original stories addressing the themes of love and marriage from 19 women writers with family or personal roots in Ireland. Contributors include Maeve Binchy (whose ""Taximen Are Invisible"" is a corrosive portrait of a philandering man and the helpless women he deceives), Mary Gordon, Mary Morrissy and Jennifer Johnston, plus such writers as Mary Maher, Ita Daly and Marian Keyes, who are less well-known here. There is little of the sunshine in the title to be found in these grim though heartfelt tales of women whose lives generally grow worse when marriages end. Set in rural and urban Ireland as well as New York City and London (the exception is ""Polygamy"" by Gaye Shortland, in which a woman recalls her confusion with social mores in Africa, where men customarily have more than one wife), these works speak volumes about stresses and infidelities solidified by centuries of social conditioning. The best stories eloquently describe the strength that sustains some women through bad relationships or allows them to escape. Most narratives paint gritty pictures of the frustration and despair that may eventually overwhelm unhappy wives. Mary Gordon's ""Bishop's House,"" the most morally complex of the lot, has as protagonist a woman who divorces out of boredom and becomes devalued in her own eyes. On the whole, the tales seem to support the editors' suggestion that divorce may not be worth the pain and damage it can cause the women who choose it. BOMC alternate. (Mar.) FYI: Royalties are being donated to the Marriage and Relationship Counseling Service in Dublin.