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This is the website of Valerie and Mary Behan. We share the website because we wrote a book together, Abbey Girls, a memoir about our boarding school days in Ireland. Scroll down for more information. Mary has just finished writing her first novel entitled A Measured Thread. It will be published in May 2020. Here’s a first look at the cover, from a painting by Gina Hecht called Pastoral. Stay tuned for more information! 
A Measured Thread
Abbey Girls Two sisters give an hilarious and poignant account of boarding school life in Ireland in the 1960s. Mary and Valerie Behan were eleven years of age when they were sent to Loreto Abbey Rathfarnham, a convent on the outskirts of Dublin. The Abbey was the Mother House of the Loreto Order of nuns who had established convents throughout the world. In their 60s and living in the United States and Canada, Mary and Valerie began a correspondence about their six years at the Abbey. Although they shared many of the same experiences, to their astonishment and delight they found that they saw the same world through very different eyes. Their school days are recounted in a series of letters that describe a fascinating, self-contained world governed by religion and tradition. 
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We are so pleased that you have decided to read Abbey Girls. For some of you this book will bring back good and bad memories of your own boarding school days. For others, it will introduce you to a world you probably thought existed only in old books. For those past-pupils of Loreto Abbey Rathfarnham, it will be a trip down memory-lane, although we know that your memories will be very different from ours, just as our memories differ.
Thank you for choosing our book, and enjoy the read.
The audio book (read by Val and Mary) is available from:
Amazon's audio platform http://www.audible.com
iTunes http://www.apple.com/itunes
The ebook it is available from:
Amazon http://www.amazon.com
iBooks http://www.apple.com/ibooks
The paperback is available in the USA from:
Amazon http://www.amazon.com
In Ireland from:
Kennys Bookshop, Galway http://kennys.ie (with free shipping worldwide)
Amazon's audio platform http://www.audible.com
iTunes http://www.apple.com/itunes
The ebook it is available from:
Amazon http://www.amazon.com
iBooks http://www.apple.com/ibooks
The paperback is available in the USA from:
Amazon http://www.amazon.com
In Ireland from:
Kennys Bookshop, Galway http://kennys.ie (with free shipping worldwide)
We love hearing from you!
Consider writing a review. Most of the sites above accept reviews. You can also email us with your feedback via the Contact page on this site.
Recent Reviews:
Review Rating: 5 stars!
Reviewed By Rabia Tanveer for Readers’ Favorite
Abbey Girls by Valerie Behan and Mary Behan is a non-fiction memoir that will take you back
in time and give you an uncharted look at Ireland in the 1960s. Although this might seem like
an ordinary memoir, it really is not at all. Imagine two girls living in a boarding school and
spending a lot of time together. Now flash forward many decades and imagine the two women
sharing their old times, only to find that they both perceived the events rather differently.
Abbey Girls is basically about the six years Mary and Valerie Behan spent at the Loreto Abbey
Rathfarnham boarding school. The book is mostly in the style of letters that the two sisters
wrote to each other. The two sisters are recounting their days at the boarding school that
followed strict tradition and religion. The reader will feel a sense of camaraderie with these
two women because we all have felt this connection with our very close/best friends.
Their letters are very humorous and downright hilarious in some places. Plus, readers get to
see the old Dublin and Ireland, and how things were in the '60s. The storyline in itself is based
on real events that happened in these women’s lives and is why this book has a certain charm
to it that cannot be ignored. It is bittersweet, sweet, and very infectious. I am really certain
that any person who reads this will not be able to put it down.
Review Rating: 5 stars!
Reviewed By Rabia Tanveer for Readers’ Favorite
Abbey Girls by Valerie Behan and Mary Behan is a non-fiction memoir that will take you back
in time and give you an uncharted look at Ireland in the 1960s. Although this might seem like
an ordinary memoir, it really is not at all. Imagine two girls living in a boarding school and
spending a lot of time together. Now flash forward many decades and imagine the two women
sharing their old times, only to find that they both perceived the events rather differently.
Abbey Girls is basically about the six years Mary and Valerie Behan spent at the Loreto Abbey
Rathfarnham boarding school. The book is mostly in the style of letters that the two sisters
wrote to each other. The two sisters are recounting their days at the boarding school that
followed strict tradition and religion. The reader will feel a sense of camaraderie with these
two women because we all have felt this connection with our very close/best friends.
Their letters are very humorous and downright hilarious in some places. Plus, readers get to
see the old Dublin and Ireland, and how things were in the '60s. The storyline in itself is based
on real events that happened in these women’s lives and is why this book has a certain charm
to it that cannot be ignored. It is bittersweet, sweet, and very infectious. I am really certain
that any person who reads this will not be able to put it down.
What Readers are saying:
"As two sisters compare and contrast their memories and perspectives, it creates a conversation. Using this framework, your book engages the reader to join in the conversation by conjuring up her school memories during that time of her life, also comparing and contrasting those to yours and the issues you raise about the people, classes, arts and sports, traditions and the environment.
I want to thank you for taking me back to that time and place in my life. I had loads of fun thinking about it all. A joy to consider the similarities and differences between our worlds, yet the things i loved and the hurdles needing to be jumped weren't so different. There is a natural critique that occurs, illuminating those things it brought to my life and influencing who I am today." EK
And from Amazon...
5.0 out of 5 stars
Loved it!
A perfectly delightful and personal look into an Irish girls' boarding school in the 1960s. The recollections of these two sisters paint a vivid picture for the reader, a look into a world far different from the ones most of us have experienced. It's little wonder that Mary and Valerie have remained so close for all these years, sharing precious memories such as these. I loved reading it. JM
5.0 out of 5 stars
Pure delight!
What a charming story shared by two sisters. They definitely made the most of their educational foundation and became successful young women. (I just think they will be forever young) I have a strong feeling that they have so much more to share about their adventurous lives. It would be nice to read the next phase. EHP
4.0 out of 5 stars
The format of letters back and forth is unique and makes for a fun read!
Entertaining and enlightening view into life as a teenage girl in an all-girls school in Ireland. The format of letters back and forth is unique and makes for a fun read! CO
5.0 out of 5 stars
Surviving the Abbey
I found this book to be a thoroughly enjoyable traveling companion on a recent long flight from the Midwest to the west coast. From the start, it held my curiosity about what a "boarding school" education in the UK is all about. Especially one that's provided in a convent by a contemplative order of Catholic nuns. I was delighted to find out that being in the hands of strict, but kind, sisters during adolescence, all the while being separated from loving parents, could be something to look back on with gratitude and many fond memories. Mary and Valerie Behan, the two sisters who explore memories of the boarding school scene through back and forth letters over a two year period, find out to their surprise, that, though their memories of daily life and momentous events were often similar, how they experienced life during this time was unique and individual. The authors did more than survive the Abbey, the Abbey gave them the tools to live positive and productive lives. JH
5.0 out of 5 stars
A delightful reminiscence of growing up in Ireland and in ...
A delightful reminiscence of growing up in Ireland and in a Catholic private boarding school in the mid-1900’s. The authors (sisters) successfully convey the similar experiences and different perspectives of their boarding school lives. The connection between the education they received and their later success as scientists and scholars is remarkable, making this an enjoyable and worthwhile read! jbp
4.0 out of 5 stars
What is memory?
Intimate and we'll written, this is a brief and charming memoir in the form of letters between two sisters, who spent time in an Irish boarding school in the 1960s. Almost too brief, would have enjoyed more stories, an easy quick read, wish there was more to it. R
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful, enlightened, and hilarious!
Beautiful, enlightened, and hilarious recollections of life at an Irish girls boarding school in the '60s. I loved reading the differing perspectives and memories of the same events, and how those boarding school years shaped their future lives. KL
5.0 out of 5 stars
Delightful, insightful, and an interesting peek into the ...
Delightful, insightful, and an interesting peek into the mysterious world of memory and recall of the childhood experience set a European private school setting. CS
5.0 out of 5 stars
Absolutely delightful
I've only just read as far as the "look inside" pages online preview but look forward to continuing with the print version as soon as it arrives. GS
5.0 out of 5 stars
I love reading childhood stories
I love reading childhood stories. The picture I imagined of Ireland in 1950-60's while reading the book was just delightful. More books !! :) KSTK
5.0 out of 5 stars
Irish education in the '50s-'60s
A fine personal diary about the great education that can come out of the Catholic world view. Nicely told, with love and care. AC