Beginner's Pluck: M.R. Hamilton - 'Don't be afraid. Just write.'

M.R. Hamilton, author

M.R. (Mo) Hamilton comes from a cultured family.

“My father worked for the Manchester Guardian,” she says. “My parents loved music and books. My father took me to classical concerts when I was eight years old.”

After school, Mo escaped to France.

“I worked as an au pair in Grasse, and then Paris.”

In 1972, she became a stewardess for British Airways.

“I flew for 10 years, and also discovered the Open University.”

After marriage and children, Mo took a teacher training course and worked at a sixth-form college, until her husband became sick when she then returned to the airline.

“After he died, I carried on flying to support the family. I retired in 2018.”

Mo has written all her life.

“As a child, I wrote poetry, and then songwriting. I took myself seriously in 2007, and an agent was interested in a novel, but after the crash of 2008, I lost heart.

“In lockdown, I was alone in France. I wrote another book. The first one, Whalebone, needs a rewrite.”

Who is M.R. Hamilton?

Date of birth: 1951, in Lancashire, England.

Education: Bury Convent Grammar School; London University, English; Southampton University, MA in Creative Writing. (2003). London University. Started a PhD, (Before husband’s death. Gave up due to lack of time.)

Home: South-West France.

Family: Children Kate, 38, and William, 36. Granddaughter, Evelyn, 2 ½.

The day job: Full-time writer. “And I’m doing a renovation on my house.”

In another life: “I’d love to have been a film director.”

Favourite writers: Henry James; Thomas Hardy; Virginia Woolf; Anne Enright; John Banville; Barbara Kingsolver; Bonnie Garmus.

Second book: Deadline. A year in the death of Joe Stott. “It’s completed and needs a publisher.”

Top tip: “Don’t be afraid. Just write. And believe in yourself.”

The debut: 

The Narrow Gate. 

Austin McCauley Publishers.

€11.95. Kindle: €3.65.

When the Second World War breaks out, Ali Conroy works in a factory, and when her boyfriend, Walter, goes missing, she marries an American and follows him to the wild plains of North-East Montana.

Can she ever escape and come home?

“When I was a stewardess, I met a woman with a horrific story.

“That was my starting point,” Mo adds.

The verdict: A powerful saga which explores the good and bad that’s in everyone.