Everybody’s irish today
Top of the morning to ye. It’s St. Patrick’s Day
Depending on your preference today is St. Patrick’s, St. Paddy’s or even the cringeworthy St. Patty’s Day. Today the whole world becomes Irish, everyone with the slightest connection to Ireland celebrate their heritage and culture, rivers turn green, in places even pints of beer are dyed green. Thousands of air miles are clocked up by our politicians spreading Irish goodwill all over the world.
In Ireland, apart from a vast amount of Guinness being drunk there are also parades in every town and village where we celebrate the hugely diverse country we have become. Parades here didn’t start until the 20th century having spread, from the Irish diaspora in North America. Lots of landmark buildings become green to celebrate St Patrick’s Day, including the Sydney Opera House.
So, who was the patron saint of Ireland
The 17th of March is the death anniversary of St Patrick, the man who brought Christianity to Ireland back in the 5th century. He is believed to have been born in Roman Britain and brought to Ireland as a slave by Irish raiders. He spent six years there working as a shepherd and that during this time found God. It is believed that God told Patrick to flee to the coast, where a ship would be waiting to take him home. After making his way home, Patrick went on to become a priest. Years later he returned to Ireland to convert the pagan Irish to Christianity. It is believed he died on 17th March and was buried at Downpatrick.
The best bit of my month
I was at a birthday party a few weekends ago. The young birthday girl came over to give me a hug and the first thing she said was ‘I love your books.’ Her words absolutely made my night.
This month’s book release
The Cat’s Whiskers was originally published as a series when I was the Contributing Editor of a magazine for pet lovers. The story was inspired by a lifetime of owning cats and dogs and having witnessed many times the miraculous ways they make their way home if they’re lost.
I’ve been working with a new cover designer and really love what she has created for this book.
The Cat’s Whiskers
All Molly Byrne’s dreams come true when she is given a beautiful black and white kitten for her birthday. Ever since she moved to the countryside with her parent’s she had wanted a kitten of her own. She quickly becomes best friends with Lucky, the handsome young cat. The pair spend every moment together. When Molly goes to school Lucky is always waiting at the bottom of the house drive for her to come home.
Except one day he isn’t there. Molly is devastated.
While she was at school, Lucky had gone to visit a lonely old lady who lived nearby. Her son, thinking Lucky was a stray cat, who would be wonderful company for his mother put the little black and white cat into a pet carrier. He would be the ideal pet to accompany Mrs Flanagan to her new home at the opposite end of the country.
Hours later, after arriving at her new home, Mrs Flanagan lets Lucky out of the pet carrier. All he wants to do is to get home to Molly who he knows needs him. Ahead lies a long and perilous journey and a friendship with an old dog called Max. Will Lucky manage to get back to Molly, or will he be lost forever?
On sale this month
From different ends of the writing spectrum, discounted this month is a romance, Two Hearts and for those who prefer their reading to be slightly darker, a crime novel, Where Is My Daughter, the prequel to The Sins Of My Father.
What I’m working on
I’m currently editing and working through the rewrites of a book, Careless Hearts. The first draft was written in 2019 after my father died and was actually inspired by a story he told me about a man he knew who had two completely separate families living in the same town. Eventually the two wives had found out about one another. I could only imagine the fallout there must have been from that. Working on the edits I can see a lot of the memories about my father’s death in the story.