The many enthralled readers who first met Sheila Mooney and her Ascendancy forebears in A Strange Kind of Loving will find in the sequel, The Bluebird Flew Away, an equally absorbing story. The account moves freely backwards and forwards in time, contrasting the childhood days of the author with stark accounts of the illness of her beloved husband, Jimmy, and her own struggles with recurring depression. We meet again the famous filmstar sister Maureen O'Sullivan and other showbiz personalities when Sheila Mooney visits New York in 1986. Funny, sad, memorable, The Bluebird Flew Away gives an insight into a wise and witty human being and a highly unusual family.