Hanora (Norah) Morriss O’Dwyer (February 19, 1900 – September 19, 1963
Released in May 2025 with Conundrum Press, Salt Green Death is my 21-year journey into the documented life of Joseph O’Dwyer (1929 – 1963). My graphic novel pieces together patient files, archival fragments, and historical research. While the book is Joseph’s story, today I (re)turn to the quiet, enduring presence of his mother: Norah, who was born on February 19, 126 years ago. Norah’s life would come to span emigration, economic hardship, stigma, and profound maternal loss. These 4 pages appear in my book as I open Section 3: Death.
I first imagine a broken Norah in the late 50’s collapsed on a table in a bar numbing her despair. She has by now lost three of her four children (two to war, one to suicide). Her youngest, Joseph, is permanently incarcerated in a psychiatric hospital with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, having undergone debilitating modes of treatment (though they were cutting edge at the time.) I have younger Norah, age 19, peeling back the present to go back to her home in Ireland. The 4 pages have Norah dancing to her heartache and the reader is left to interpret the pages as they will.
The Joycean echo underscores her Irish inheritance and tragic beauty. The knitting pattern is the O’Dwyer Knit. The wordless pages are some of my personal favourites.
