Crying for the Moon

In this brilliantly funny and poignant debut novel, actress, comedian and social activist Mary Walsh has created the unforgettable Maureen Brennan, a young woman coming of age in late 1960s St. John’s, Newfoundland.

There is no one like Maureen, the second youngest daughter of the Sarge, a mother so bitter, so angry about her fate that she bullies her children and her husband before anyone else has a chance to. Maureen’s dad, once gorgeously young, is now a beaten-down man who tells his best stories when he is drunk.

School is torture, with the nuns watching every move she makes. Oh, but Maureen wants a bigger life. She wants to go to sexy, exciting Montreal and be part of Expo 67, even if it means faking her way into the school choir. Once there, Maureen escapes the vigilant eye of Sister Imobilis and sneaks out into the city where, over the course of a few hours, and after a series of breathtakingly bad decisions, she changes the course of her life forever.

All Maureen really wanted was to get her life going. Even now, with everyone and everything against her, Maureen has one thing that nobody can take away: she is the indomitable Maureen—a young woman who is so much more than anyone thinks.