BOOKS Novelist Kate Kerrigan to read in Belmullet

NEW WORK?Author and journalist Kate Kerrigan will read from her latest book, ‘Land of Dreams’, in Áras Inis Gluaire, next month. ?Pic: Neil Kerrigan.

Novelist Kate Kerrigan to read in Belmullet


Kate Kerrigan will read from her latest book, ‘Land of Dreams’, in Áras Inis Gluaire on Thursday, June 13, at 7.30pm. Kerrigan is an Irish historical-fiction author whose books have been translated into several languages and sold all over the world.
Her novels, ‘Recipes for a Perfect Marriage’ (shortlisted for the Romantic Novel of the Year Award), ‘The Miracle of Grace’, ‘Ellis Island’ (a Richard & Judy Summer read) and its sequel ‘City of Hope’, all follow her theme of drawing parallels between the emotional landscapes of women’s lives in the past with the way women live now.
The third book in the Ellis Island trilogy, ‘Land of Dreams’, was launched in Ballina last month. Set in 1940s Hollywood, it once again centres on the heroine of the previous novels, Irish emigrant Ellie Hogan. This latest title deals with a mother’s love, a woman’s ambition and a Hollywood romance in a time of war. Ellie’s idyllic and bohemian family lifestyle on New York’s Fire Island is shattered when her eldest son, Leo, runs away to Hollywood to seek his fame and fortune. Ellie is compelled to chase after him, uprooting her youngest son and long-time friend and confidante Bridie as she goes.
Ellie fashions a new home amongst the celebrities, artists and movie moguls of the day to appease Leo’s star-studded dreams. As she carves out a new way of life, she is drawn towards intense new friendships. Talented composer, Stan, is completely different to any other man she has previously encountered, whilst kindred spirit Suri opens Ellie’s eyes to a whole new set of injustices.
Ellie sees beyond the glitz of 1940s Hollywood, realising that the glamorous and exciting world is also a dangerous place overflowing with vanity and greed. She must protect her precious family from the disappointments such surroundings can bring, and from the more menacing threats radiating from the war raging in Europe.
Kate Kerrigan lives in the north Mayo fishing village of Killala with her husband and two young sons. A full-time writer, she is also a keen blogger at katekerriganauthor.blogspot.ie, and she writes a weekly column for the Irish Mail.  
On sunny days she can be seen travelling around Ireland in her Bedford Bambi camper which she has pimped into a traditional Irish parlour.
Kerrigan was reared in London, but she has family roots in Mayo. Those roots not only prompted her move to the west, they also underpin her fascination with rural life, the hardships endured by generations past and the complex consequences of emigration. “I live here now,” the author reveals, “in a house on the sea with all the comforts of our modern age and, to me, it is the most beautiful place in the world. But even yet this rugged, wild landscape, can be a challenging place to live with an inclement climate, a ferocious sea that heaves and spits rocks on a stormy night, and stony, boggy soil.
“In my grandmother’s time, life in North Mayo was all but impossible. Difficult farming land, centuries of oppression and bloody politics had led to widespread poverty and emigration figures from this part of the island were almost absolute … Young Irish women left Ireland in their droves throughout the 1920s, but while poverty was the driving force – many used enforced emigration as an excuse to avoid the prospect of marrying some toothless old farmer their parents had lined up for them!
“Others left sweethearts behind or like my heroine Ellie went to earn money to build a better life for themselves back home. Many became so seduced by the glamour and the freedom that they never came back.”