WIN!x Two Books …
Paula Xiberras
• WIN: Two copies of Two Fridays in April. Simply write to editor@oldtt.pixelkey.biz First in, best dressed!x And one has gone. Onya Rachel …
I recently spoke to author Roisin Meaney from her home in Ireland. Roisin is excited about her twelfth novel ‘Two Fridays in April’ being the first of her books to get widespread release in Australia. Amazingly, unlike a lot of Irish people Roisin has no relatives in Australia but does have a cousin in New Zealand.
We are chatting about how Roisin, who worked as a teacher for 6 or 7 years, entered the world of writing. Roisin tells me she owes it all to ‘cornflakes and cars’, well, actually cornflake box competitions. A compulsive reader like the majority of writers, Roisin said she was consciously reading the cornflake box when she noted a competition for a Ford Fiesta car, the competition required writing in a concise number of words why you desired the car . Roisin entered and won. With a talent for writing concise, compact language Roisin’s cousin encouraged her to enter the world of advertising, even providing her with a book on the subject. Serendipity intervened seeing her gain a copywriting position in the UK which she worked at for several years.
Soon it was time for Roisin to try her hand at something even more challenging, writing a novel. Again a competition came into the equation where would be writers were asked to send in their first three chapters, if successful they were offered a three book deal. Roisin was successful again and while staying in San Francisco with her brother, Roisin wrote her first book.
Roisin, although she is now a full time author, hasn’t left her teaching career totally behind, still attending schools and libraries regularly to read books to the children.
‘Two Fridays in April’ Roisin’s latest novel begins with a sadness that impacts on the interlocked lives of a number of characters and the novel deals with how, over a year between two Fridays in April they are healed. Connections are important in Roisin’s novel and it is these connections between characters that ultimately repair the broken lives.
As to the original names of some of the characters in ‘Two Weeks in April’ such as the ‘Darlings’ and the ‘Quirks’ Roisin says there is no particular reason relating to the names of her protagonists except to say she likes to use ‘stand out’ unusual names for her main characters, leaving the more familiar names for her lesser characters.
Speaking of names Roisin’s surname ‘Meaney’ means ‘treasured or beloved’ and it would seem that this first widespread release of Roisin’s novel will see her become a treasured and beloved author to Australian readers too.
Pleasing news for Australian readers is that Roisin is working on a new book which features an Australian character, a girl from Brisbane who is visiting her sister in Ireland.
‘Two Weeks in April’ is out now published by Hachette.