BEGINNER’S PLUCK
Muriel Bolger became a journalist when her children were in secondary school. A freelance journalist, editor, and award-winning travel writer, she had never tried fiction.
“I wrote some guide books of Dublin six years ago, but never wrote short stories. But when a cat jumped onto my lounger on a beach in Cyprus, a story came into my mind. I wrote it, then thought I could stretch it. I did a flashback, and invented a group of friends.”
Muriel wrote her book in airports and on planes. She finished in two years, but put the book away, until the downturn of journalism in 2009.
“On the day Hachette offered me a two-book deal, a book on Dublin the City of Literature, that I’d proposed to O’Brien Press, was accepted as well.”
Dublin.
Loreto College Crumlin Road, our Lady’s School, Templeogue, Notre Dame de la Treille in Lille, France.
Dublin.
Two adult sons, a daughter and five grandchildren.
Journalist and travel writer.
“Painting water colours, listening to classical music. I love dining in, and out.”
Douglas Kennedy; Oscar Wilde.
“It’s very different. It’s set between Dublin and India. An Indian girl, refuses to conform to cultural norms.”
Just do it. Don’t procrastinate.
Neither.
Consequences published by Hachette Books Ireland; €13.99.
Set in Celtic Tiger Ireland, when people flittered to villas in Spain, and shopped in New York, it follows a group of golfing friends on a holiday in Spain. In Dublin, Derek and Sharonne’s rocky marriage drifts apart. Rory tries to forget an indiscretion, as Maeve keeps a life changing secret from her husband. Will the friendships survive?
A perfect, escapist beach read with a serious edge, told by a seasoned traveller.
