Title: Painting Through the Dark (A Novel)

Author: Gemma Whelan

Publisher: Shangana Press (Portland, Oregon), 2022

Available : amazon.com

By Daniel Buckwalter

Through the often tense streets of San Francisco, alone, to a whirlwind of love and a home in America with its own ghosts, Ashling O’Leary is on the run from her past in Ireland, armed with her art, her judo outfit and a three-month visa.

Ashling’s journey — starting with the smothering religious sensibilities of her family, her time in a convent where she was training to be a nun, her time in America with her love of painting, and her emerging resolve to speak up on behalf of girls and women who were abused in Catholic Ireland — is the endearing story behind the novel Painting Through the Dark by Portland-based author Gemma Whelan.

And it is a wonderful read.

I won’t spoil the ending of Painting Through the Dark and how Ashling’s drive to see her newfound calling comes to begin. Instead, I would like to take a moment to commend Whelan for a concise yet richly dense story about Ashling. It’s a quick read, yes, but you’ll be cheering for Ashling throughout.

The novel is condensed to a series of days and begins on May 31, 1982 (Memorial Day), at the bustling San Francisco airport and with hyped-up anxiety at the immigration office: “Compared to sleepy Shannon Airport this was the far side of the moon.”

It ends on August 25-28 — as her visa ends — and Ashling realizes that she has made San Francisco “a repository of all her hopes and dreams, her holy grail.”

Now, the 21-year-old has found that “True North was knowing where your own skin ended, and others began. Only then could you reach out and help. Fight for yourself, and for others. Speak in an authentic voice.”

Whelan, herself an Irish immigrant, is an award-winning screenwriter and director, as well as an educator and short story writer. She was the founding Artistic Director of Wilde Irish Productions in Berkeley, California, and later worked at Corrib Theatre in Portland.

One award-winning screenwriting work of Whelan’s — Eye of the Storm — became the basis of her first novel, Fiona: Stolen Child, in 2010. Painting Through the Dark is Whelan’s second, and she is currently at work on her third novel.

Painting Through the Dark is a lovely late-summer read. I would encourage you to buy it.