Corinne Malvern a character supposed to be three years old), a 1907 New York Evening Telegram article and ships' passenger records, make it clear she was born in 1901. Malvern performed in the Henry W. Savage New English Grand Opera Company in the American premiere of Puccini's opera Madama Butterfly in the role of the child "Dolore" ("Sorrow," or "Trouble" in English), Butterfly's son, in front of an audience that included the Viscount Aoki, Japanese Ambassador to the United States, and John Luther Long, author of the novella on which the opera was based, on October 15, 1907, and subsequently toured with
A Son Called Gabriel Fergal. During adolescence, Gabriel is convinced by his cousin Connor to sexually experiment with him, learns he is attracted to his own sex, and tries to fight it by trying to make himself attracted to girls. At sixteen, he is also abused at school by a priest Father Cornelius. The story ends with Brendan's revelation and Gabriel about to leave Ireland to go to University in England, and the reader has to draw his or her own conclusions about whether Gabriel will continue his relationship with Fiona – with whom he is in love but can't have a sexual relationship