Leaving clare, p.53
Leaving Clare, page 53
In Conversation with Geraldine O’Neill
Has writing always been an important part of your life?
Yes. As far back as I can remember I have always loved both reading and writing. When I was a young girl reading Bunty magazine, I was so impatient for the next edition that I used to write my own ‘follow-up’ episodes to the stories, imagining what would happen next.
I won a couple of small prizes for writing stories at primary school which encouraged me. At secondary school, I loved writing essays and short stories or book reviews.
I learned to type at school which has come in very handy, as I now type my books straight into the computer.
Tell us about your writing process. Where do you write? When? Are you a planner or a “ride-the-wave” writer?
I tend to do a mixture of both. When I start the book the main characters are already formed in my head and I usually have the opening scene planned. I also have a general idea of where the story will go and how it will end.
Then I start writing. As I go along new characters emerge, and I find both they and the main characters do and say things I don’t expect – which can take the story off in a completely different direction to what I envisaged!
I usually find myself going along with these unplanned adventures as they often make the most memorable scenes in the book. It is the difference between consciously planned writing and the unconscious creative mind taking over.
I find the mixture of these approaches produces the best work for me.
Since your first novel Tara Flynn was published in 2002, how has your life changed?
In some ways my life has changed a lot – in other ways it hasn’t changed at all.
The main changes are in time-scheduling as I now have to make time for my writing commitments and (try to!) meet deadlines etc. Before I was published, I just wrote when I felt like it.
My spare time is now more writing-orientated. I have given courses on writing in Ireland, UK and abroad and I’m often asked to speak to groups, give readings of my work at library events etc. I also have more contact with my agent, publishers and other writers.
My personal life hasn’t really changed. My family has always been my main priority, and I see all my old friends as regularly as I did before I was published. I still teach in the local primary school although I recently took a two-year career break to write full-time.
I am lucky to have two careers that I love, and I find they compliment each other.
A lot of your other books are also set in rural Ireland in the 1950’s/1960’s, the Tara trilogy, A Different Kind of Dream and Aisling Gayle. The Grace Girls was set in 50’s Scotland. Why is this period so appealing to you, do you think?
I think it appeals to me because it’s a period that had a very strong visual element. I loved researching the clothes, the hair-dos, the music, transport etc. The Grace Girls gave me great scope with two sisters close in age, getting dressed and made up to go out to parties or on dates. I also discovered information about the infamous ‘lacquer-bug’ which gave great cause for concern amongst the ladies who kept their hair piled up and well-sprayed from week to week!
I think women enjoyed being feminine without feeling too pressurised and made weekend rituals of curling their hair, pressing their clothes, checking if their shoes needed to be heeled etc. They weren’t expected to appear with a new outfit every week with the latest bags and shoes.
I feel many of today’s women must be exhausted keeping up with regular waxing, fake tans, hair extensions, eyelash extensions, facials, false nails etc.
I’ve had treatments done for special occasions, and know how time-consuming not to mention expensive it must be to do it every weekend.
Do you have a favourite character in Leaving Clare?
I enjoyed writing about my main character, Rose Barry – a lovely, family-oriented, fairly naïve girl – who was typical of her time.
I also enjoyed writing about Hannah, whose behaviour was more outrageous than most girls in the 50’s and I never quite knew what she was going to do next. Some characters tend to take on a life of their own and Hannah was definitely one of them!
I also enjoyed writing about the attractive, mature Leonora as her character has a lot of depth and life-experience. It was great to be able to show how people can change their attitude and direction in life at any age. It also gave me a different angle to explore a more privileged character’s attitudes to class, family, close relationships, religion and sexuality. I also loved writing about her gardening and art work as they are both hobbies I have an interest in.
Going to the local dance is an important part of Leaving Clare. The setting of the Ballroom of Romance era is very atmospheric in the novel – why so, do you think?
The Ballroom of Romance era has always fascinated me, and I’ve enjoyed writing dance-hall scenes in many of my books. There’s a great feeling of fun and glamour about the time – but there’s a lot of innocence as well.
I’ve spoken to numerous women from Ireland, Scotland and England who talk glowingly about their dance-hall days. It was a place where they could enjoy themselves on the dance floor, and there was always the chance they might meet their future husband.
Incidentally, both my parents and my husband’s parents met in 50’s dance halls
I was too young for The Ballroom of Romance era, but I loved the discos of the early 70’s where boys asked girls to dance, and there was always a race to pick partners for the ‘slow dances’ which were reminiscent of a waltz. Apparently that sort of dancing is no longer in fashion with teenagers and, if that’s the case, I think young girls today are definitely missing out!
What character & scene was most difficult to write?
I think the intimate scenes between Hannah and her love interests (suffice to say there were a few – I don’t want to spoil the story for readers!). I find these sorts of scenes always take longer as I need to choose my words very carefully. I don’t want to offend my readers by using language which will shock or make them feel uncomfortable.
Equally, I don’t want to avoid describing love scenes to the extent that readers don’t actually know if anything has happened! I avoid obvious clichés or repeating the same safe scenes over again. I try to come to each of these scenes with a fresh eye and realistic language that reflects the two people involved.
Living in the Midlands of Ireland, do you think this has influenced your writing?
I think all the places I have lived and visited have definitely influenced my writing. It’s much easier to visualise and describe places you know well. Familiarity with a place – the scenery, the towns and villages and the mixture of people in it – give a much more authentic feel to writing.
The main setting in Leaving Clare is naturally County Clare, with other chapters set in Tullamore in County Offaly and the Lucan area of Dublin.
The Tara Flynn books and A Different Kind of Dream are all set around the Offaly area where my mother’s family are from and where my husband and I have lived since 1991. The Grace Girls is set in Lanarkshire, Scotland, where I grew up.
Who are your favourite authors and favourite novels and why?
All time favourites would be The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy, John Mortimer’s Rumpole of the Bailey, and anything by Alan Bennett.
I like these writers because they have a real eye for detail and personal idiosyncrasies. They know what makes people tick, and they also make you laugh.
I also enjoy books by Anita Shreve, Joanna Trollope, and I loved The Bridges of Madison County. I also enjoyed Irish author John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
I read a huge variety of books by different authors, as I’m in a book circle with twelve other members. We take turns at picking a book and then everyone reads it and we meet up every month to discuss it over wine and food – it’s interesting and very sociable. It also opens your mind to books you wouldn’t normally read. In most cases I’ve enjoyed something about the book. Occasionally I’ve read books and abandonedthem halfway if they are not to my taste – as others have done with mine. Literature is like music or art – everyone is entitled to their opinion. Life is too short to plough through a book you don’t enjoy!
Tell us a bit about your next book?
I’m currently working on two books. One is set between rural Ireland and Newcastle-upon-Tyne (where I went to college!) in the 50’s and 60’s.
The story opens as Lucy Wilde is putting the final stitches in her wedding dress when jealousy and betrayal strike. In the aftermath, she finds herself on a journey to begin a whole new life in a big, bustling city. Along the way she meets people who help her discover strengths and talents she didn’t know she possessed. She uses these talents to build a different, very successful life to replace the dreams she left behind in Ireland. As Lucy’s business career moves onwards and upwards, she steadfastly refuses to trust in love again. But when fate brings unexpected wealth and new social standing in Newcastle’s business world, she discovers it’s very hard to avoid male attention.
The other book is a complete departure from my usual books as it is a hard-hitting, contemporary, ‘woman in jeopardy’ type of book about a reclusive author now living in New York. As the story unfolds, the layers are peeled back in her life to reveal a dark tragedy which overshadows all the relationships in her new life.
I’m enjoying writing both books, although I’ll be focussing on my 50’s book for the next few months as it is due in for summer.
If you enjoyed Leaving Clare, don't miss out on
Tara's Destiny,
also published by Poolbeg.
Here is a sneak preview of Chapter one . . .
Tara’s Destiny
Chapter 1
VX
Ballygrace, October 1965
Tara opened the bedroom curtains of the big bay window. After looking at the grey October sky for a few moments, she let her gaze wander down into the garden of Ballygrace House. Everything was still and calm this morning, but the evidence of the previous weekend’s storm was obvious.
She had spoken to her father on the phone several times before she and William, her young brother-in-law, had set off from Stockport for the boat journey to Ireland yesterday morning. William was on half-term from school in London, and Tara was taking a long overdue week off from running her small hotel.
‘The worst of the weather is over now,’ her father had informed her in the last call, ‘so ye should have a reasonable journey across. Now, don’t be drivin’ too fast through Wales, and take it easy on those oul’ winding roads down from Dublin. They’re not like the English roads; they can be greasy and treacherous at this time of the year. And make sure you have your spare tyre well pumped up.’
Tara had raised her eyes to the heavens and listened patiently to her father’s advice about cars and driving and roads – which Shay Flynn actually knew nothing about. But she listened because she knew he meant well, that he was trying to advise her in the way that Gabriel, her husband, would have done. But Gabriel had been dead for over three years now, and although she still missed him every single day, Tara had learned to look out for herself when it came to practical matters.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll be careful,’ she had said.
She looked down now at the bigger fallen branches that Shay had dragged into a damp pile, where they were waiting until they had dried sufficiently to be sawed into manageable logs. Then, they would be carried in a wheelbarrow into one of the outbuildings to dry out completely, and used later for fuel on the house fires.
Her gaze moved further back to the fence which bordered the garden, and the field behind where two lively children’s ponies had once run. One for Gabriel and one for his sister, Madeleine.
But that was a long time ago. The field was now let to a neighbouring farmer for grazing sheep. As far as Tara could see, the once-sturdy fence had been damaged by the high winds in at least two places. The elderly farmer had obviously done a patch-up job on the fence with branches and bits of wood, but it would have to be done properly.
Tara would have to organise somebody to do the work, and she would have to do it today, otherwise her father would be doing it himself. If it hadn’t been for the constant rain over the last few days, he would have been out to start on the job already.
No matter how many times Tara told him to get a local handyman in to do any extra work – or to give him a hand – Shay always ended up doing the job by himself or with Mick, his brother. But the fact was, they were getting too old for heavy work. Both men were now in their sixties, and while Tara’s uncle Mick was prepared to listen to his wife, Kitty, about what he was still capable of doing – or not – her father certainly wasn’t. Tara’s stepmother, Tessie, could warn him until she was blue in the face, but it made no difference.
Tara stared out of the window for a few minutes, a thoughtful look on her face, then she walked back across the bedroom to put her warm velvet dressing-gown over her pyjamas, and went downstairs.
As she laid the kitchen table for breakfast, Tara heard a noise from upstairs. She smiled. It was a sure sign that William Fitzgerald was growing up, when she was awake and moving before him in the mornings.
When he was younger – on their trips over to Ireland or when William came to Stockport – he would have been waiting for her and Gabriel in the kitchen or dining-room. But he was now exhibiting all the traits of a normal, growing teenager – eating more and sleeping longer.
The first thing Tara had done when she came downstairs was switch on the radio, then rake out the range and get it fired up again. Ella Keating, the local woman who helped out in Ballygrace House, had set the fires in the other rooms, ready to be lit, and she had left bacon, sausages and black-and-white pudding in the fridge. Ella had also offered to come and cook the breakfast, but Tara had told her not to rush up early every morning. It was good for her and William to do things for themselves. She heated up a griddle pan and started cooking.
In truth, although she was grateful for help around the big, old rambling house, Tara was happy to have some time there on her own. She often sat in the cosy kitchen, remembering the days and nights she and Gabriel had spent in the house during their short marriage, and her mind would wander further back, to when she came to Ballygrace House as a young girl and Madeleine Fitzgerald’s best friend.
The sausages, bacon and pudding were soon cooked, and she put them in a dish to keep warm in the oven.
‘Something smells good,’ William said, coming into the warm kitchen. He ran his hand over a clump of dark hair that was sticking up at the back of his head.
As Tara turned to look at him, she was suddenly startled to noticed he was wearing Gabriel’s old blue tartan dressing-gown. Why she should have been surprised she didn’t really know, because she had loaned it to William the last time he was here and it must have remained hanging in the spare room wardrobe.
Flustered, she went back to the slices of soda bread that were now frying in the pan alongside two eggs. ‘There’s tea in the pot,’ she told him, ‘or orange juice in the white jug.’
‘Great,’ William said, reaching first for a small glass and then to the centre of the round table for the jug of juice. After pouring his drink, he lifted the white paper napkin that was at his place and spread it over his lap. ‘These are useful things, Tara,’ he said, running his hands across the square of stiff tissue. ‘I suppose you can just throw them away after using them. My mother still has the old-fashioned kind that have to go to the laundry every week to be washed and starched.’
Tara turned the eggs in the pan, then glanced over her shoulder at him. ‘We have lots of linen napkins, too,’ she told him, ‘but it’s easier to use the disposable ones when there’s only the two of us here.’ She gave a little shrug. ‘It’s the same as us eating in the kitchen; it’s easier than waiting for the fire in the dining-room to warm the place up and then having to carry all the food through.’
‘I think it’s nicer eating in here,’ William told her. ‘It’s more cosy and relaxed. We always eat in the dining-room at home – breakfast, lunch and dinner.’ He looked around the kitchen now. ‘Being here feels like being on holiday.’
‘I’m glad you enjoy it,’ Tara said, smiling warmly at him. ‘I love coming back to Ballygrace House, too, and it’s lovely having company.’ She stopped. ‘But you’re lucky that you have such a nice stepfather. Harry is very good at going to rugby and cricket matches with you, and taking you and your mother out for drives or up to the West End for the theatre and that kind of thing.’ She checked that the eggs and bread were fully cooked, then moved the frying pan to the edge of the range, away from the strongest heat.
‘Oh, Harry is very good to me,’ William quickly agreed. He took a drink of his orange juice. ‘It’s just that everything is more relaxing here in Ireland . . . I don’t have to think about schoolwork or anything like that.’
Tara was glad now that she had offered to bring the boy with her. It killed two birds with one stone, giving her the chance to check on Ballygrace House and see William at the same time. The only drawback was the time of year, with the late October mornings and evenings becoming darker and longer. It was not the best time to have a holiday. But, Tara wryly told herself, beggars can’t be choosers. She had to take the time off from the hotel when it was convenient for the business and not for her own personal life. She knew when she bought the Cale Green Hotel in Stockport that she would have to commit all her time to it for the first few years.
‘I can’t promise anything very exciting this week,’ Tara said now, as she lifted the dish from the oven, and began dividing the sausages, bacon and black-and-white pudding between two plates. ‘I’ve got to do a few jobs around the house, and have to organize work to be done outside before the winter sets in.’
Has writing always been an important part of your life?
Yes. As far back as I can remember I have always loved both reading and writing. When I was a young girl reading Bunty magazine, I was so impatient for the next edition that I used to write my own ‘follow-up’ episodes to the stories, imagining what would happen next.
I won a couple of small prizes for writing stories at primary school which encouraged me. At secondary school, I loved writing essays and short stories or book reviews.
I learned to type at school which has come in very handy, as I now type my books straight into the computer.
Tell us about your writing process. Where do you write? When? Are you a planner or a “ride-the-wave” writer?
I tend to do a mixture of both. When I start the book the main characters are already formed in my head and I usually have the opening scene planned. I also have a general idea of where the story will go and how it will end.
Then I start writing. As I go along new characters emerge, and I find both they and the main characters do and say things I don’t expect – which can take the story off in a completely different direction to what I envisaged!
I usually find myself going along with these unplanned adventures as they often make the most memorable scenes in the book. It is the difference between consciously planned writing and the unconscious creative mind taking over.
I find the mixture of these approaches produces the best work for me.
Since your first novel Tara Flynn was published in 2002, how has your life changed?
In some ways my life has changed a lot – in other ways it hasn’t changed at all.
The main changes are in time-scheduling as I now have to make time for my writing commitments and (try to!) meet deadlines etc. Before I was published, I just wrote when I felt like it.
My spare time is now more writing-orientated. I have given courses on writing in Ireland, UK and abroad and I’m often asked to speak to groups, give readings of my work at library events etc. I also have more contact with my agent, publishers and other writers.
My personal life hasn’t really changed. My family has always been my main priority, and I see all my old friends as regularly as I did before I was published. I still teach in the local primary school although I recently took a two-year career break to write full-time.
I am lucky to have two careers that I love, and I find they compliment each other.
A lot of your other books are also set in rural Ireland in the 1950’s/1960’s, the Tara trilogy, A Different Kind of Dream and Aisling Gayle. The Grace Girls was set in 50’s Scotland. Why is this period so appealing to you, do you think?
I think it appeals to me because it’s a period that had a very strong visual element. I loved researching the clothes, the hair-dos, the music, transport etc. The Grace Girls gave me great scope with two sisters close in age, getting dressed and made up to go out to parties or on dates. I also discovered information about the infamous ‘lacquer-bug’ which gave great cause for concern amongst the ladies who kept their hair piled up and well-sprayed from week to week!
I think women enjoyed being feminine without feeling too pressurised and made weekend rituals of curling their hair, pressing their clothes, checking if their shoes needed to be heeled etc. They weren’t expected to appear with a new outfit every week with the latest bags and shoes.
I feel many of today’s women must be exhausted keeping up with regular waxing, fake tans, hair extensions, eyelash extensions, facials, false nails etc.
I’ve had treatments done for special occasions, and know how time-consuming not to mention expensive it must be to do it every weekend.
Do you have a favourite character in Leaving Clare?
I enjoyed writing about my main character, Rose Barry – a lovely, family-oriented, fairly naïve girl – who was typical of her time.
I also enjoyed writing about Hannah, whose behaviour was more outrageous than most girls in the 50’s and I never quite knew what she was going to do next. Some characters tend to take on a life of their own and Hannah was definitely one of them!
I also enjoyed writing about the attractive, mature Leonora as her character has a lot of depth and life-experience. It was great to be able to show how people can change their attitude and direction in life at any age. It also gave me a different angle to explore a more privileged character’s attitudes to class, family, close relationships, religion and sexuality. I also loved writing about her gardening and art work as they are both hobbies I have an interest in.
Going to the local dance is an important part of Leaving Clare. The setting of the Ballroom of Romance era is very atmospheric in the novel – why so, do you think?
The Ballroom of Romance era has always fascinated me, and I’ve enjoyed writing dance-hall scenes in many of my books. There’s a great feeling of fun and glamour about the time – but there’s a lot of innocence as well.
I’ve spoken to numerous women from Ireland, Scotland and England who talk glowingly about their dance-hall days. It was a place where they could enjoy themselves on the dance floor, and there was always the chance they might meet their future husband.
Incidentally, both my parents and my husband’s parents met in 50’s dance halls
I was too young for The Ballroom of Romance era, but I loved the discos of the early 70’s where boys asked girls to dance, and there was always a race to pick partners for the ‘slow dances’ which were reminiscent of a waltz. Apparently that sort of dancing is no longer in fashion with teenagers and, if that’s the case, I think young girls today are definitely missing out!
What character & scene was most difficult to write?
I think the intimate scenes between Hannah and her love interests (suffice to say there were a few – I don’t want to spoil the story for readers!). I find these sorts of scenes always take longer as I need to choose my words very carefully. I don’t want to offend my readers by using language which will shock or make them feel uncomfortable.
Equally, I don’t want to avoid describing love scenes to the extent that readers don’t actually know if anything has happened! I avoid obvious clichés or repeating the same safe scenes over again. I try to come to each of these scenes with a fresh eye and realistic language that reflects the two people involved.
Living in the Midlands of Ireland, do you think this has influenced your writing?
I think all the places I have lived and visited have definitely influenced my writing. It’s much easier to visualise and describe places you know well. Familiarity with a place – the scenery, the towns and villages and the mixture of people in it – give a much more authentic feel to writing.
The main setting in Leaving Clare is naturally County Clare, with other chapters set in Tullamore in County Offaly and the Lucan area of Dublin.
The Tara Flynn books and A Different Kind of Dream are all set around the Offaly area where my mother’s family are from and where my husband and I have lived since 1991. The Grace Girls is set in Lanarkshire, Scotland, where I grew up.
Who are your favourite authors and favourite novels and why?
All time favourites would be The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy, John Mortimer’s Rumpole of the Bailey, and anything by Alan Bennett.
I like these writers because they have a real eye for detail and personal idiosyncrasies. They know what makes people tick, and they also make you laugh.
I also enjoy books by Anita Shreve, Joanna Trollope, and I loved The Bridges of Madison County. I also enjoyed Irish author John Boyne’s The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas.
I read a huge variety of books by different authors, as I’m in a book circle with twelve other members. We take turns at picking a book and then everyone reads it and we meet up every month to discuss it over wine and food – it’s interesting and very sociable. It also opens your mind to books you wouldn’t normally read. In most cases I’ve enjoyed something about the book. Occasionally I’ve read books and abandonedthem halfway if they are not to my taste – as others have done with mine. Literature is like music or art – everyone is entitled to their opinion. Life is too short to plough through a book you don’t enjoy!
Tell us a bit about your next book?
I’m currently working on two books. One is set between rural Ireland and Newcastle-upon-Tyne (where I went to college!) in the 50’s and 60’s.
The story opens as Lucy Wilde is putting the final stitches in her wedding dress when jealousy and betrayal strike. In the aftermath, she finds herself on a journey to begin a whole new life in a big, bustling city. Along the way she meets people who help her discover strengths and talents she didn’t know she possessed. She uses these talents to build a different, very successful life to replace the dreams she left behind in Ireland. As Lucy’s business career moves onwards and upwards, she steadfastly refuses to trust in love again. But when fate brings unexpected wealth and new social standing in Newcastle’s business world, she discovers it’s very hard to avoid male attention.
The other book is a complete departure from my usual books as it is a hard-hitting, contemporary, ‘woman in jeopardy’ type of book about a reclusive author now living in New York. As the story unfolds, the layers are peeled back in her life to reveal a dark tragedy which overshadows all the relationships in her new life.
I’m enjoying writing both books, although I’ll be focussing on my 50’s book for the next few months as it is due in for summer.
If you enjoyed Leaving Clare, don't miss out on
Tara's Destiny,
also published by Poolbeg.
Here is a sneak preview of Chapter one . . .
Tara’s Destiny
Chapter 1
VX
Ballygrace, October 1965
Tara opened the bedroom curtains of the big bay window. After looking at the grey October sky for a few moments, she let her gaze wander down into the garden of Ballygrace House. Everything was still and calm this morning, but the evidence of the previous weekend’s storm was obvious.
She had spoken to her father on the phone several times before she and William, her young brother-in-law, had set off from Stockport for the boat journey to Ireland yesterday morning. William was on half-term from school in London, and Tara was taking a long overdue week off from running her small hotel.
‘The worst of the weather is over now,’ her father had informed her in the last call, ‘so ye should have a reasonable journey across. Now, don’t be drivin’ too fast through Wales, and take it easy on those oul’ winding roads down from Dublin. They’re not like the English roads; they can be greasy and treacherous at this time of the year. And make sure you have your spare tyre well pumped up.’
Tara had raised her eyes to the heavens and listened patiently to her father’s advice about cars and driving and roads – which Shay Flynn actually knew nothing about. But she listened because she knew he meant well, that he was trying to advise her in the way that Gabriel, her husband, would have done. But Gabriel had been dead for over three years now, and although she still missed him every single day, Tara had learned to look out for herself when it came to practical matters.
‘Don’t worry, I’ll be careful,’ she had said.
She looked down now at the bigger fallen branches that Shay had dragged into a damp pile, where they were waiting until they had dried sufficiently to be sawed into manageable logs. Then, they would be carried in a wheelbarrow into one of the outbuildings to dry out completely, and used later for fuel on the house fires.
Her gaze moved further back to the fence which bordered the garden, and the field behind where two lively children’s ponies had once run. One for Gabriel and one for his sister, Madeleine.
But that was a long time ago. The field was now let to a neighbouring farmer for grazing sheep. As far as Tara could see, the once-sturdy fence had been damaged by the high winds in at least two places. The elderly farmer had obviously done a patch-up job on the fence with branches and bits of wood, but it would have to be done properly.
Tara would have to organise somebody to do the work, and she would have to do it today, otherwise her father would be doing it himself. If it hadn’t been for the constant rain over the last few days, he would have been out to start on the job already.
No matter how many times Tara told him to get a local handyman in to do any extra work – or to give him a hand – Shay always ended up doing the job by himself or with Mick, his brother. But the fact was, they were getting too old for heavy work. Both men were now in their sixties, and while Tara’s uncle Mick was prepared to listen to his wife, Kitty, about what he was still capable of doing – or not – her father certainly wasn’t. Tara’s stepmother, Tessie, could warn him until she was blue in the face, but it made no difference.
Tara stared out of the window for a few minutes, a thoughtful look on her face, then she walked back across the bedroom to put her warm velvet dressing-gown over her pyjamas, and went downstairs.
As she laid the kitchen table for breakfast, Tara heard a noise from upstairs. She smiled. It was a sure sign that William Fitzgerald was growing up, when she was awake and moving before him in the mornings.
When he was younger – on their trips over to Ireland or when William came to Stockport – he would have been waiting for her and Gabriel in the kitchen or dining-room. But he was now exhibiting all the traits of a normal, growing teenager – eating more and sleeping longer.
The first thing Tara had done when she came downstairs was switch on the radio, then rake out the range and get it fired up again. Ella Keating, the local woman who helped out in Ballygrace House, had set the fires in the other rooms, ready to be lit, and she had left bacon, sausages and black-and-white pudding in the fridge. Ella had also offered to come and cook the breakfast, but Tara had told her not to rush up early every morning. It was good for her and William to do things for themselves. She heated up a griddle pan and started cooking.
In truth, although she was grateful for help around the big, old rambling house, Tara was happy to have some time there on her own. She often sat in the cosy kitchen, remembering the days and nights she and Gabriel had spent in the house during their short marriage, and her mind would wander further back, to when she came to Ballygrace House as a young girl and Madeleine Fitzgerald’s best friend.
The sausages, bacon and pudding were soon cooked, and she put them in a dish to keep warm in the oven.
‘Something smells good,’ William said, coming into the warm kitchen. He ran his hand over a clump of dark hair that was sticking up at the back of his head.
As Tara turned to look at him, she was suddenly startled to noticed he was wearing Gabriel’s old blue tartan dressing-gown. Why she should have been surprised she didn’t really know, because she had loaned it to William the last time he was here and it must have remained hanging in the spare room wardrobe.
Flustered, she went back to the slices of soda bread that were now frying in the pan alongside two eggs. ‘There’s tea in the pot,’ she told him, ‘or orange juice in the white jug.’
‘Great,’ William said, reaching first for a small glass and then to the centre of the round table for the jug of juice. After pouring his drink, he lifted the white paper napkin that was at his place and spread it over his lap. ‘These are useful things, Tara,’ he said, running his hands across the square of stiff tissue. ‘I suppose you can just throw them away after using them. My mother still has the old-fashioned kind that have to go to the laundry every week to be washed and starched.’
Tara turned the eggs in the pan, then glanced over her shoulder at him. ‘We have lots of linen napkins, too,’ she told him, ‘but it’s easier to use the disposable ones when there’s only the two of us here.’ She gave a little shrug. ‘It’s the same as us eating in the kitchen; it’s easier than waiting for the fire in the dining-room to warm the place up and then having to carry all the food through.’
‘I think it’s nicer eating in here,’ William told her. ‘It’s more cosy and relaxed. We always eat in the dining-room at home – breakfast, lunch and dinner.’ He looked around the kitchen now. ‘Being here feels like being on holiday.’
‘I’m glad you enjoy it,’ Tara said, smiling warmly at him. ‘I love coming back to Ballygrace House, too, and it’s lovely having company.’ She stopped. ‘But you’re lucky that you have such a nice stepfather. Harry is very good at going to rugby and cricket matches with you, and taking you and your mother out for drives or up to the West End for the theatre and that kind of thing.’ She checked that the eggs and bread were fully cooked, then moved the frying pan to the edge of the range, away from the strongest heat.
‘Oh, Harry is very good to me,’ William quickly agreed. He took a drink of his orange juice. ‘It’s just that everything is more relaxing here in Ireland . . . I don’t have to think about schoolwork or anything like that.’
Tara was glad now that she had offered to bring the boy with her. It killed two birds with one stone, giving her the chance to check on Ballygrace House and see William at the same time. The only drawback was the time of year, with the late October mornings and evenings becoming darker and longer. It was not the best time to have a holiday. But, Tara wryly told herself, beggars can’t be choosers. She had to take the time off from the hotel when it was convenient for the business and not for her own personal life. She knew when she bought the Cale Green Hotel in Stockport that she would have to commit all her time to it for the first few years.
‘I can’t promise anything very exciting this week,’ Tara said now, as she lifted the dish from the oven, and began dividing the sausages, bacon and black-and-white pudding between two plates. ‘I’ve got to do a few jobs around the house, and have to organize work to be done outside before the winter sets in.’
