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Leaving Clare
Leaving Clare (Synopsis) - Growing up in the 1950s in Kilnagree, a small village in Co Clare, Rose Barry lives a quiet, predictable life. Working part-time in the local pub while helping her grandmother at home, Rose’s only ambition is to marry a decent local lad and stay close to her family in Kilnagree. In Offaly, Rose's pretty, precocious cousin Hannah Martin is hiding dark secrets. Dreaming of the day she can flee her vicious-tempered mother, Hannah finds a welcome escape with her cousins in Kilnagree where she is the life and soul of the party. Rose and her friends find that trouble is never far away when the blonde, vain Hannah is around, and they quickly discover that where she is concerned, no man is out of bounds Lenora Bentley, whose daughter lives in Kilnagree, also finds peace and tranquility when she visits Co Clare. A wealthy widow, living in a large empty house in Dublin, Lenora is nursing a wound that refuses to heal. In trying to come to terms with her grief Lenora has closed herself off from a fulfilling social life - and the one man who could open the door to a very different future. As the story comes to its climax, we are waiting to find whether Rose will find happiness in Kilnagree or do her fortunes lie elsewhere? Will Hannah break free from her domineering mother and her own dangerous behaviour? And will Lenora ever be able to let her guard down to enjoy a full life again? All three women are searching for a new life – which means leaving the old familiar one behind. For Rose Barry the future may well mean leaving Clare.
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Author Biography Geraldine O’Neill grew up in Cleland, a small mining village, in Lanarkshire, Scotland. The second of six children, she was educated in St Mary’s Primary in Cleland then Holy Cross High School in Hamilton. She moved to Newcastle-upon-Tyne to train as a teacher, and there she met her future husband, Mike Brosnahan whom she married in 1977 after returning to Scotland. After several years teaching in Scotland, Geraldine had her two children, Christopher and Clare. In the mid-eighties, the Brosnahans moved to Mike’s hometown of Stockport, near Manchester, where she taught for a number of years before the family moved to Ireland in 1991. Mike and Geraldine have remained there since, although they make frequent trips back to the UK to visit family and friends. Whilst working as a teacher in the local primary school in Ireland, Geraldine helped start up a local writers’ group which is still going strong 15 years later She is an accomplished public speaker, and was President of Tullamore Toastmasters in 2002. She started up a Book Circle in Tullamore which is now in its 8th year, and one of their meetings was broadcast live on National Radio from Geraldine’s house in April 2004! She has taken up art classes in recent years, and has already exhibited and sold several pieces of her work. Geraldine O’Neill has been writing since the early 90’s and had gained a number of awards for her short stories before embarking on her first novel. She has also had a number of poems published. She has been involved in many community projects to do with writing, and regularly gives readings at literary festivals and gives workshops and talks on her writing career. Geraldine has six novels published in Ireland by Poolbeg: Tara Flynn, Tara’s Fortune, Aisling Gayle, The Grace Girls, The Flowers of Ballygrace and Tara's Destiny. Her forthcoming book Leaving Clare will be published in Spring 2009. Tara Flynn, Tara’s Fortune, The Grace Girls, The Flowers of Ballygrace, Tara's Destiny and Cara Gayle are also published in the UK and Commonwealth by Orion. Her books are also available in large print and on audio-tape. Geraldine’s agents are Watsonlittle, London. |
