Mary Frances Coady

Mary Frances Coady was born in Saskatchewan and raised in Alberta. She attended the University of Alberta, and worked in religious journalism for a number of years.

She is the author of the children’s novel, Lucy, Maud and Me and numerous biographies, most recently, With Bound Hands: A Jesuit in Nazi Germany: The Life and Selected Prison Letters of Alfred Delp. Mary Frances Coady’s short fiction has been published in several literary journals. As well, she has given writing workshops at various venues in the Toronto area. The Practice of Perfection is her first collection of short stories and is part of Coteau Books’ Prestige Collection. Reserved for first collections, many have gone on to win The Danuta Gleed and other prestigious awards.

She currently teaches business writing at Ryerson University in Toronto.

From the author:

These stories were written somewhat haphazardly, and then I noticed that some of the same characters were re-appearing and this gave me the idea of a collection of linked short fiction. At some point I thought that there might be some interesting possibilities in placing them in the year 1959. Historically, 1959 is a pivotal year—it was the beginning of the end of the staid, everything-in-its-place fifties, and just around the corner, in the 1960s, everything was going to explode in society’s face. The same thing was true of the Catholic Church, and even more so. Catholicism had remained virtually unchanged since the sixteenth century, and most attempts in the first half of the twentieth century to question Church practices and re-formulate teachings were met with harsh suppression. Within a few years, however, Catholicism, in its own way, was about to explode. This historical situation is reflected in the lives of the young novices who make up the main characters of these stories.