Beginner’s Pluck: Lynda Marron's debut is heartfelt and heartwarming

'Last Chance in Paris' may have been five years in the making but it is a glorious read

Debut novelist Lynda Marron: 'Walking along the Seine, it felt like something from a novel. I wrote down all that had happened, memoir-style.'

The eldest of five sisters, Lynda was an introvert, who loved reading but was drawn to science.

“I wanted to find a cure for malaria,” she says.

After college, Lynda went to Italy with her husband, and started a family. Since then, she’s worked part-time as a GP’s secretary, and has gradually built up her writing.

“I was always writing letters and diaries, and I had a stab at short stories, but I never showed them to anyone.”

She decided to concentrate on reading, but the addiction to write persisted.

“I wrote long Facebook posts, like micro stories, then I started a blog.”

That gave me confidence. I wrote book reviews on Instagram, but I still hadn’t the nerve to write a book.

Inspiration struck during a weekend to Paris.

“Walking along the Seine, it felt like something from a novel. I wrote down all that had happened, memoir-style, then I formed a writer’s group with a friend. 

“I sent him the memoir, and he said: ‘You have to let go, and make stuff up.’ The novel was an experiment. I was five years writing it.” Attending a pitching to an agent event proved invaluable.

“I learned to put a lot of effort into the initial letter,” she says.

That worked; agent Polly Nolan took her on in September 2022.

Who is Lynda Marron?

Date/ place of birth: 1972/ Dublin.

Education: Prosperous National School, Kildare; Presentation College, Bandon; Scoil Mhuire in Cork; University College Cork, science and microbiology, MFC in Microbiology. “It started out as a doctorate, but the repeated experiments didn’t work.”

Home: Cork.

Family: Husband Michael, and four children; Cockapoo, Charlie.

The day job: Full-time writer.

In another life: “I’d be meeting authors and writing ‘Beginner’s Pluck’.”

Favourite writers: Grainne Murphy; Dorothy Whipple; Claire Kilroy; Karl Geary; John Steinbeck, andJilly Cooper.

Second book: To be published in spring 2025.

Top tip: Take a time-limited break when you’re stuck. And keep reading.

Instagram: @sultanabun

The debut

Last Chance in Paris; Eiru, €15.99/ Kindle, €11.29

After a tragedy, Claire and Ronan are on a make-or-break trip to Paris. As they struggle to reconnect, they come across others facing difficult dilemmas. They interact and amazing things happen.

The verdict: A glorious read: Heartfelt and heartwarming.