Powerless
Who was I glad to see leave?
Eowyn! Last year one of my newsletters was titled ‘Why is it so stormy in Ireland?’ Recently we had what was predicted to be one of the worst storms Ireland had ever experienced, storm Eowyn, a record breaking cyclone. Wind speeds beat the 80 year old record and surpassed the last really big one which was in the 60’s. The highest gusts were recorded 30 miles along the coast in both directions, in Carna and in Clare above 115 mph. (183 in Carna and 160 km/h in Clare). One of the wind turbines near me collapsed – apparently their stress limit is just below the high point of the winds we got. The blades of another were snapped off.
Fortunately, perhaps the weather forecasters were able to give an accurate prediction of what was to come and possibly more fortunately it hit in the middle of the night so there weren’t people around which kept them safe, and also the trees were leafless which helped save some of them, although even so there were thousands of trees blown down, some are completely uprooted, others look as if they have literally exploded. Thousands of telegraph poles were also blown down. Some of the poles dated from the 70’s so hardly surprising.
We, and 700,000 other homes lost power during the storm, phone services went down, some people lost their water too. Luckily, I have a woodburner and gas hob (bitter experience has taught me these are essential). It took 18 days until every home had power.
Locally our lovely new posh adventure centre, Wildlands, opened their doors for people to shower and charge electricals and use the wifi which was wonderful, so kind of them. If you are ever in the neighbourhood www.wildlands.ie is well worth a visit.
At home, a section of roof tiles went stray, many shattering around – and yet remarkably not damaging my partner’s car. My big horse trailer was pushed up the slope of the drive, through the gate and into the yard where it was pushed sideways in front of the stables. There are also a good few trees down on the drive and in the fields
I found being powerless quite pleasant. I could work on my laptop during the day, shower locally and then read and research my next book using a head torch in the evening.
My roof was repaired by one of the men who worked on the house 25 years ago when it was built, probably replacing tiles he put up there originally. A friend of mine is building a house, it has just been roofed – and a heap of her tiles went too, so wasn’t just the older houses that were damaged.
Thankfully now the power has been restored, I’ve caught up with the washing and hoovering and cleaned out my freeze. I’m so conscious of the lives of friends who were hit by the terrible fires in LA. Some lost everything apart from the clothes they stood up in, so complaining about having no electricity seems very churlish. I hope everyone there will get their lives back together.
Out and about in Connemara over the weekend I was struck by the havoc Eowyn had caused. Huge trees have been uprooted, lying tangled, their root systems and the earth they stood on reaching, in places some 20 feet in the air. Along the roadsides wires and trees are tangled, together, the powerlines lying in heaps of branches and leaves. It will be a long time before everything is sorted out completely.
My New Book
My first release of 2025 will be published at the beginning of March. Two Hearts is a contemporary romance, set in the Irish equestrian world. The original inspiration for this book was written almost 20 years ago, as a short story, when I was the Contributing Editor of Ireland’s Horse and Pony magazine. My then agent suggested I extended it into a novel. Unfortunately by the time it was finished, Emma had sold her business and retired. The novel has waited, unpublished, until it was reworked, edited and rewritten a couple of times until finally I had to let it go out into the world.
TWO HEARTS
She cannot let herself love him
Life in Ireland had not turned out like Polly Kennedy had planned. Once she had big ambitions for the future. Now she is the divorced mum of three children, living in a beautiful but crumbling mansion, navigating a decidedly toxic relationship with her mother. And if that is not enough to contend with, Polly is struggling to earn a living and keep her pony-mad eldest daughter in the sport they both love, eventing.
Polly’s life is thrown into turmoil when Matt Ryan returns to the small Irish village they grew up in. The feelings he unleashes threaten to derail the fragile fabric of her life. While her heart longs to rekindle the relationship they once had, she cannot let him into her life. Some secrets need to stay hidden.
Two Hearts is available exclusively on Amazon, as an ebook and paperback.
‘The Irish horse world makes a fantastic setting for this novel.’
‘Louise Broderick brings an awful human dilemma to life.’
‘Loved this book.’
Louise Broderick is a wonderful storyteller.’
‘Can’t wait to read more by this author.’
Coming in 2025.
Last year I published six new books. This year there are nine, due to be released, in my multiple genres. This year there is a new crime novel, following on from what has so far been my most successful book, The Sins Of The Father. There are also romances and a couple of older children’s titles. I’ll keep you updated on their progress as the year goes on.
Promotion
This month two of my books, The Sins of the Father and Trainers are available at the reduced price of 99c.