Originally published at crisis magazine
It’s 1952, and John Wayne’s latest film, The Quiet Man, is a huge hit at the box office. It is about a stranger who arrives in an Irish village with a secret he does not want to disclose. A year earlier, a little-known Irish author, Malachy G. Carroll, had published The Stranger, a novel about a stranger who arrives in an Irish village with a secret he is unable to share.
The film was not based on Carroll’s novel because its inspirational source was a short story by Irish author Maurice Walsh, published in 1933. If it had been, The Stranger and its author would be far better known today. Instead, they are almost entirely forgotten. This is a shame because The Stranger is a forgotten classic of mid-twentieth century Catholic fiction, a hidden gem which is well worth rediscovering.
Apart from the obvious plot parallel between The Quiet Man and The Stranger, there are other similarities or overlaps between the two stories. The love interest played by Maureen O’Hara in the film is reflected in the novel by the character Nell McGough, both women falling in love with the mysterious stranger. There is, however, one big difference. Whereas the
