Decenber 23, 1958

Dorothy Macardle (February 2, 1889 to December 23, 1958 ) wrote books, fiction and non-fiction. Her 1937 volume, The Irish Republic, A Documented Chronicle of the Anglo-Irish Conflict and the Partitioning of Ireland with a Detailed Account of the Period 1916-1923, with a Preface by Eamon de Valera is a hefty example of the latter.

And of the former we have a plot in which a cat plays a significant role.

Lizzie Flynn is a housekeeper in an old house which overlooks the Irish sea. She has a cat named Whiskey, because his tail whisks back and forth. When a brother and sister buy the house, Lizzie and Whiskey hear the sounds of a woman weeping and they both are convinced a ghost resides there. The cat flees and disappears. Lizzie refuses to spend the night in the house. The novel, The Uninvited (1942) is often praised for its graceful prose, and a complex dynamics uncommon in the ghost story genre. The movie version (1944) follows the original story closely. And when the cat returns, jumping into the house through a window, we know everything now is, and will be, okay.

Macardle wrote other suspense stories as well as contemporary assessments, such as Children of Europe; a study of the children of liberated countries: their war-time experiences, their reactions, and their needs, with a note on Germany. (1951).

Here is a brief biography which repays reading, and highlights the complexity of Macardle's sympathies. Such as the fact she spent both wars in London, even though some Irish refused to support the English, who had in fact arrested Macardle at one point,  as a member of Sinn Fein.