Downers Grove Resident John M. McNamara announces the publication of his
6th work of fiction, the novel Madonna.
In this novel, Mary Cottle struggles day-to-day as a widow and the
single mother of a 43-year-old son with special needs. She wanders the
streets of her town, scavenging abandoned "treasures" that she then
sells to an antiques dealer and friend, Karl. From this meager income,
she provides a meager life for her son, Jimmy. He is a simple man, but
one day he confronts his mother with the revelation that he has a
girlfriend…a woman who works nights with him cleaning offices. Dread
overcomes Mary. She has feared this day for years and despite all the
time she has had to prepare for it, when considering what to do about
her son's announcement, she flounders. At times Jimmy behaves no better
than a child; Mary frets about how to dissuade him from this
entanglement as she would in denying him a shiny toy. But her son
surprises her….and assists Mary in surprising herself.
Mary wistfully considers how her deceased husband would manage their
son's desires. Her friendship with Karl blossoms beyond what she ever
could have anticipated. She ritually visits the neighborhood tavern,
spars with the bartender, sips Scotch for breakfast and predicts his
fortune while gazing at a small crystal ball. And then there is the
girl…Connie…bent on complicating her life. Mary abandons caution and
reacts to Jimmy's news recklessly, oblivious to the consequences. Her
decisions snowball, appropriately she feels, as a winter storm assaults
the town in drifts and frigid temperatures. Unexpected events unfold and
Mary's reticence to allow Jimmy the things he has always coveted begins
to melt. She spies a light at the end of her tunnel and charges headlong
toward it. Never having believed she deserved a happy ending to her
life, Mary casts aside her fears and lunges toward one.
About the Author
John M. McNamara's short fiction has been published in Crosscurrents,
Old Hickory Review, The Piedmont Literary Review, Minotaur, Snapdragon,
Four Quarters, FlashFiction, Quick Fiction, Bear River Review, Inside
Running and Chicago Literati.
In the summer of 1999, he was awarded a professional artist residency at
the OxBow Summer Arts Program for the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago in Saugatuck, Michigan. He lives in Downers Grove, Illinois, a
suburb of Chicago, with his wife.
He is the author of the novels Madonna, The Dreams of Teddy Schreck,
Harmony House, A Final Reflection, A Life Without Grace, and Hunter's
War, A Novella, and Selected Short Stories. All available from Amazon.com.