Debut Novelists, Saturday October 11th, 2:30pm, Nenagh District Heritage Centre, FREE
June O’Sullivan lives on an island in Co. Kerry. Her writing has appeared in the The Ogham Stone Journal, The York Literary Review, Seaside Gothic, The Storms Journal, The Waxed Lemon, Frazzled Lit and Sonder. She is a graduate of the MA in Creative Writing at the University of Limerick. Her debut novel, The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife, was published by Poolbeg Press in January 2025.
The Lighthouse Keeper’s Wife by June O’Sullivan:
Life is hard in Ireland in 1867. Eliza Carthy moves with her lighthouse-keeper husband James and sons Peter and Joseph to the remote island of Skellig Michael. Eliza is proud of her husband and his promotion to Principal Keeper and is eager to support him in his work and fulfil her duty as a good wife and mother. But life in this extreme location is challenging.
The island is 54 acres of jagged rock, jutting out of the Atlantic, with no way of communicating from or leaving the island. With no access to a boat, keepers must rely on a tender boat to deliver news, supplies and act as their conduit to life on the mainland. The island is exposed to extreme changes of weather and the landscape is fraught with danger.
Caragh Maxwell is a writer living in Sligo town. She graduated from the Trinity College MPhil in Creative Writing in 2023, and her essays, poems and stories have been published in The Irish Times, The Cormorant and other publications. Her writing focuses on the self, memory, and
womanhood. Sugartown is her debut novel.
Sugartown by Caragh Maxwell:
A remarkable new Irish debut about growing up and moving backwards. What do you do when you’ve ruined your own life? You go home to your mother, if you’re lucky enough still to have one. Saoirse Maher wouldn’t recommend it.
Leaving home wasn’t supposed to be temporary. But after her five-year relationship goes south, Saoirse she’s out of options. And so she finds herself trudging back to her mother Máire’s house, hidden up a side road on the outskirts of Irish civilisation.
But just as Saoirse arrives reluctantly back home, everyone else seems to be moving on. Fortunately, she’s got parties, drugs, and an entirely-healthy-not-problematic-at-all-thanks relationship with Charlie to distract her. Don’t look too closely and it’s all fine. Saoirse is fine.
Except somehow, her old coping mechanisms aren’t cutting it this time around.
Saoirse might finally have to confront the fear she’s been running from for so long: how can you make peace with the worst parts of yourself when you’re afraid that the worst of yourself is all that you are?
*PLEASE NOTE* – This event takes place at Nenagh Heritage Centre
TICKETS:
This event is FREE but spaces are limited so booking is essential