Mayo woman's debut novel to be released next week

Mayo native Marie O’Connor’s first novel ‘Whispers on Main Street’ will hit the shelves on February 1. The story follows Nate Wheatley, a mobile grocery service, and stirs up a thrilling tale of murder, gossip and a town divided in 1960’s rural Ireland, and across the globe!

Ms O’Connor, who grew up just outside Castlebar, near the village of Turlough, said: “I had a lovely childhood growing up in Mayo, I always say that I feel my life has been enriched by growing up in the countryside. I feel remorse for suburban children that have not experienced the ideal childhood”.

After working in Dublin for ten years as a news editor, O’Connor felt the pull of the West, and moved to Galway, where she still resides today.

“I was either going to continue working in Dublin, but I thought maybe I will look at opportunities at home” said O’Connor.

“I diversified, I had a great love for the art of window dressing and so I became a window dresser. I worked for two leading retailers in Dublin, and then a position came up for a job in Galway. I applied and got it, so that's what brought me back,” she added.

Now, finally getting to use her passion for creative writing professionally, Ms O’Connor had the idea of 'Whispers On Main Street’ for a long time, but it was a conversation with a friend about the pandemic and her own memory of travelling shops, that got the ball rolling.

“[My friend] was saying how lucky we are with supermarket delivery trucks, and I said, well that's already been invented because years ago travelling shops used to call to the homes of people in the countryside.”

O’Connor explained how travelling shops were ‘a vital service to rural communities’ due to the lack of cars and transport. She described her experience with the service as ‘an absolute godsend’.

“Myself and my friend were saying you know, wasn't it lovely for these guys going from house to house, you can imagine all the news they would have going between houses. I was laughing thinking, if someone loved their bit of gossip, this would be the dream job for them!

“So that's where it started, and it planted the seed about this character Nate, who was a travelling shop owner that loved a bit of gossip. Then something had to happen to him wherein he became the subject of the gossip and everyone was talking about him instead.”

The story, which showcases the best of Irish society, takes the reader on a journey around Ireland, the UK, Europe and even Hawaii, with a dark twist.

O’Connor says she ‘didn’t necessarily sit down to write a murder story, but I had to have something very…awful, I suppose happen to him, for people to be talking about him’.

“That's when I kind of focused on the murder within the story itself, and then it all took legs from there,” she concluded.

Pick up a copy of ‘Whispers on Main Street’ by Marie O’Connor in all good bookshops from February 1.