Meggie grew up very frustrated,without Frank by her side and her mother's support so she grew to love Ralph very much and consider him as a lover ,and Ralph on the other hand saw Meggie became a very beautiful teenager and he became attached to her and he was sensitive to her charms.

Did Father Ralph love Meggie?

Every reader of Colleen McCullough's 1977 novel knows that Meggie Cleary truly loves Father Ralph all her life, but does he truly love her back? Mr. Chamberlain's simple answer: yes. ''It was a real soul-mate relationship,'' he says.

What is the age difference between Meggie and Ralph?

It's the story of Meggie Cleary and her love for a handsome Irish Catholic priest, Father Ralph de Bricassart - a man whom she first meets when she is just nine years old, making the age difference between them around eighteen years.