Frontlist | INYOURAREA COMMUNITY Two new novels highlight Manchester's Irish community

Frontlist | INYOURAREA COMMUNITY Two new novels highlight Manchester's Irish community
on Mar 18, 2021

Two authors have written novels about being Irish in Manchester. The novels, set in Manchester's thriving Irish community, cast a light on the joys and pain of being Irish in Manchester. Despite being set over one hundred years apart, both stories have family at their heart, and explore the experience of being Irish and living and belonging in the city as they ask questions about the legacy of the country they left behind. Annette Sills was born in Wigan, Greater Manchester to parents from County Mayo. Her second novel, My Mother’s Children is set in 2015 in Chorlton and Mayo. It is the story of Carmel Doherty’s search for the sibling her mother gave birth to in an Irish mother and baby home, a place notorious for its mass burial of babies and illegal adoptions. Carmel’s quest for the truth about her troubled mother’s past takes her on a journey from her comfortable suburban home to the west of Ireland and to London's theatre land. It is an emotional roller coaster journey that leads her to ask: Can we ever escape our own family history or is DNA our destiny? One reviewer has described it as: A moving family story and a skilful portrayal of the Irish Diaspora. The second novel is by Derville Murphy, born in Birmingham who now lives in Dublin. If Only She Knew by Derville Murphy, right If Only She Knew is a historical drama set between Victorian Dublin and Manchester. When Julia Benson, artist, moves to Manchester she discovers her Fenian lover is missing. In her attempts to find him and build her career in the city, she becomes embroiled in a plot so dangerous that it could set back Irish hopes for Home Rule for decades. Inspired by the life of artist Margaret Allen and Christy Campbell’s research in Fenian Fire, the book has been described as Peaky Blinders meets Pride and prejudice. Both books are published by Poolbeg Press and are available on Amazon and The Book Depository as eBooks and paperbacks, and in Chorlton bookshop. Read more: EXCLUSIVE FIRST LOOK: New covers of the Bridgerton novels released