The Lord and Mary Ann

Mary Ann is up to her usual mischief in the second novel of the Mary Ann series. She is still eight years old, but this novel has a bit less of the "childlike" feel to it than did the first one. In this one, Mary Ann and her ma and da and brother Michael are living on a farm. Her father has quit drinking... for the time being. Mary Ann has developed a bit of a relationship with the owner of the farm, Mr. Lord. She has quite a few "not so companionable" relationships as well, namely with her nemisis, Sarah Flannigan and another young farm girl, Lena. Her friendship with Mr. Lord is the cause of much jealousy to the other two young girls and Mary Ann is constantly fighting with one of them and then repenting to her beloved Father Owen. There is a few laughs in this one. My poor husband has once again been jarred awake in the middle of night due to my laughing my arse off while reading in bed. I really do need to get him some ear plugs. It is not all laughter and fun tho, as Mary Ann's mother has a former suitor reappear in her life, causing Mike (Mary Ann's da) some distress. Will Mike hit the bottle again? If he does, will he lose his job? Mary Ann continues appealing to both Father Owen and the "Holy Family" as she calls them, but can they help her this time? Cute story, but dims when compared to some of Cookson's other works.