Kate O'Brien

Louise Harrington (Cardiff University)
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Born in Limerick on 3 December 1897, Kate O'Brien was the youngest daughter of Thomas and Catherine O'Brien. One of nine children, she was five years old when her mother died of cancer, and she was consequently sent to join her sisters at Laurel Hill convent school in Limerick. She remained at Laurel Hill for fourteen years, and her experiences there later provided the inspiration for her novel

The Land of Spices

. When her father died in 1916, her remaining relatives were anxious for O'Brien to obtain a position in a bank (the family fortune was by this time in decline), but instead she won a scholarship to read English and French at University College Dublin. Graduating in 1919, she moved to England, where she found work as a freelance journalist, later becoming the foreign languageā€¦

1086 words

Citation: Harrington, Louise. "Kate O'Brien". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 02 March 2004 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/speople.php?rec=true&UID=5613, accessed 19 March 2024.]

5613 Kate O'Brien 1 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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