Leona Forde: Milly McCarthy is a 'little bit wild, with rebel blood'

Meet the Cork author behind a new book that’s been dubbed the new Diary of a Wimpy Kid - and a character to which her own daughter could relate

Author Leona Forde: has crafted a heroine for her daughter to relate to

MILLY MCCARTHY was an accident. Leona Forde had no intention of writing a book about a 10-year-old fun-loving girl from Cork that, once published, would be compared to the best-selling Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

But covid changed everything. Her then 10-year-old daughter Asha, an avid reader, had finished all of the ‘Wimpy Kid’ series, moved on to the ‘Big Nate’ books and was asking her mother why all the books she was reading were set in America and featured boys. Not to mention references to ‘diapers’, ‘fall dances’, and ‘middle school’.

Asha wanted to read about characters to which she, an Irish girl who goes to a gaelscoil, could relate. So Leona, an English and history teacher, began making up little stories featuring Milly McCarthy “who’s a little bit wild because she’s got rebel blood”.

“She has really good intentions,” says Leona, “and always wants to help others, but somehow it always turns to chaos and it’s really not Milly’s fault.”

Milly McCarthy would have remained a lovely secret between mother and daughter if Leona hadn’t studied a number of online writing courses as part of her continuous professional development during the pandemic. One of these was a writing for children course with Patricia Forde (no relation), author of The Wordsmith, an award-winning dystopian tale.

This was where Leona brought Milly to life, and Patricia encouraged her to submit her work to a publisher.

The mother of four admits that there are similarities between her children, who are now 12, 10, seven, and three and Milly and her three siblings.

“In a sense I based the characters a little bit off my children. The names of the characters are Milly, Ryan, Zach, and Izzy while my children are Asha, Rian, Isacc and Indy. Milly’s brother is obsessed with Lego and ‘Star Wars’ and my 10-year-old is obsessed with Lego and ‘Star Wars’.”

Milly McCarthy is a Complete Catastrophe is aimed at seven- to 12-year-olds and Leona makes good use of her in-house focus group.

“Every now and again, I’ll call one of the kids to run a scene by them or a joke. I’ll know by their reaction if it’s a keeper or not.”

Her daughter Asha has also played a pivotal role in the look of the gorgeously illustrated book. She provided the original drawings for the stories, and while illustrator Karen Harte has worked her creative magic, three of the characters in the book — Milly, Muinteoir Emer, and Rebecca — are based on Asha’s ideas.

While Milly’s capers are purely the product of Leona’s creative thinking, much of the book is grounded in reality.

“A lot of the things in the book come from things that my kids say to me. They’ll come home and say ‘guess what, we’re trying to conserve water in school this week’ and they’ll tell me about the Green Flag Award [a key plot point in Milly McCarthy is a Complete Catastrophe]”.

And she kept parents in mind while she was writing it: “The teacher does a lot of eye-rolling and Milly doesn’t really understand it but as an adult, you do.”

Leona, who is married to Tony Speight of West Cork Coffee, moved to Bandon from Cork city 16 years ago. The two were in school together. “He asked me to his grad in sixth year and we’ve been together ever since.”

She did an Arts degree in UCC and having studied English, History, and Economics then decided to do the HDip.

The minute she started teaching, Leona knew it was for her.

“I absolutely loved being in the classroom and that’s where I get my joy. I love when I see that lightbulb going off in a child’s head or when you do a poem and someone comes up and says ‘Miss, that reminds me of something else, it reminds me of a song’.”

Leona, who has worked in Kinsale Community School for 15 years, says that teaching wasn’t planned but it was the route for her: “Similar to writing, it seems that the stars just seemed to align.”

Her students have been very supportive and the first years are very excited about her book being published. She feels that it’s very important for her older classes — the fifth and sixth years — to see that if you want to do something, you can do it. You’ll find the time if you want to.”

Leona finds pockets of time here, there, and everywhere.

“I like to write at night time and I think when you’re doing something you enjoy it, it doesn’t even feel like work, so when the kids are in bed and all the lunches are made and my lessons are prepped for the following day, I usually write for an hour.”

She believes that women always tend to make time: “When I’m dropping the kids at piano or swimming or wherever they’re going, I’d always have a notebook in the car with me and I have those 20 minutes where I’m waiting for them, I’ll jot down some ideas or write out a little dialogue or plan another book. I always have pens and notebooks with me.

“I’m a plotter. I go this will happen in the beginning and there will be two or three key scenes and this is how it will end and I flesh it out from there. I’d always have the skeleton of the idea first.”

She’d love to keep writing, she’d love to stay teaching as well. “I’d like to do both — have my cake and eat it. I would love if it became a little series that kids are looking for the next book, that would be the dream.”

• Milly McCarthy is a Complete Catastrophe by Leona Forde is available now
• Leona will be doing a book signing today from 11.30am at Bandon Books in Riverview Shopping Centre and a reading with illustrator Karen Harte on March 11 from 3pm at Waterstones, St Patrick’s Street, Cork