Shell Talent

Shell Talent is a fifteen-year-old young woman who is the main character of the book. Shell is a kind young girl, but lives in poverty, struggling to take care of her family after her mother's death and her father's resulting depression. Shell loves her family, and has few friends. Those she does have, Bridie Quinn and Declan Ronin, are friends only in that they all come from impoverished families. Shell seeks love wherever she can, and when Father Rose enters her life, she fantasies about his care for her becoming more. She sees him as a friend and a love interest, but also sees him as the man who brings God back into her life. It is this relationship with Father Rose that later convinces some in the town that it is Father Rose who impregnates Shell.

Shell's again sees love with Declan Ronin, a boy who...