I have always been drawn to untold stories. Perhaps this instinct stems from the immigrant experience, having been brought up by Irish parents living in England, who then migrated back to Ireland when I was eighteen. This mixed-identity creates the feeling of being slightly outside the mainstream narrative, perhaps more alert to the silences and spaces within it. Back in 2020, my instinct for the untold was picking up on two main stories. Firstly, the number of families living in emergency accommodation. Secondly, the number of calls to Women’s Aid, which had dropped during lockdown and then peaked immediately after restrictions were lifted. Talk about silenced voices. ‘Stay home, stay safe,’ we were constantly being told. But what if home was the least safe space you could be?
All of this had been percolating in my mind, when I received a commission to write a short story for RTÉ Radio One on the theme of ‘independence.’ That single word was the catalyst for everything that followed. I wrote a story called Present Perfect, about a woman called Caira Fay, who is living in emergency accommodation with her two children, their lives filled with struggles and small triumphs. It was read by the wonderful Siobhán McSweeney of Derry Girls fame, but even as I sat in the kitchen, listening to my story on the radio, something didn’t feel right. The story wasn’t over. I wanted to find out what would happen to Ciara and her children. Would she fully escape the clutch of her abusive ex? Would they ever find a home? Against my best intentions, I would have to write a novel to find out.
Until then, I had only written short stories. I was working full-time, and parenting small children, so I usually carried stories around in my head for months before writing them down, at which point I already had the entire plot worked out. A novel was different. I’m not sure that anyone can carry an entire novel around in their head. So, I had to embrace to vulnerability of not knowing how things would turn out, and put myself entirely in Ciara’s shoes. The experience was stressful but also exhilarating, as the story began to develop its own music. From that single word ‘independence,’ an entire world unfolded. Nesting became a quest. An adventure. A love story. A tale about hope in impossible circumstances, and about the possibility of taking a chance and changing your life. I cannot wait for readers to meet Ciara and embark on this journey with her.
You can now pre-order Nesting on dubraybooks.ie
