Debbie Doherty : Ballymoney,Co Antrim
source - http://www.marylarkin.co.uk/
FORMER mill girl turned bestselling author Mary Larkin will be back in her native Belfast, signing copies of her new book in Easons of Donegall Place. It's called Sworn to Secrecy and once again is based on the writer's experiences growing up in Northern Ireland.
"I used to moan every time I came home about how much things are changing," recalled Mary, who now lives in Darlington. "I kept saying someone should write a book about the good old days and then decided to do the job myself."
Mary, who didn't start writing until she was in her 50s, left school at 14 to work in the mill. "I could hardly write a letter, never mind a book in those days," she said. "I got my inspiration from real life. I write about my memories of people and places and happy nights in dance halls like the Floral at Bellevue."
"Larkin the writer has become a cult figure among women readers in the city," said Trevor Proctor, the books manager at the Easons shop. "We are expecting a big turn-out for her new page turner and her autograph."
Mary is taking time off from her next Belfast-based novel to come home on this visit - to see family and friends and to sign Sworn to Secrecy for all her fans."I'll just love wandering up Royal Avenue once again," she says, "even though it has changed so much from my schooldays."
Eddie McIlwaine
source - http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/story.jsp?story=658710
I have just finished my latest book....................
Blurb...........
1971. With the troubles in Belfast at their height a happy domestic life is something that Tess Maguire yearns for. Yet the political and social unrest are sending ripples of uncertainty through every aspect of her life - and the lives of her family, friends and colleagues.Even Tess’s business seems suddenly under threat. While her partnership with her friend Theresa Cunningham in a dressmaking firm is successful, it’s beginning to affect her romantic interests. Theresa’s boyfriend, Bob, always seems to be near Tess. Near enough, one night, to declare his feelings for her. Tess, in confusion, has to confront her own mixed up emotions concerning Bob. And to address her feelings for her own ever-faithful boyfriend Tony. Especially when he asks her to marry him...
Another marriage seems, at first, to herald some stability into their lives. Tess’s widowed mother Alice is finally to wed Dan, her long-standing partner. Free at last of his troublesome wife Anne, he can spend the rest of his years with Alice and his beloved grandson Jackie. Jackie is almost an orphan: his father Jack died in a motorcycle accident. His mother Colette may as well be dead- she decamped to Canada shortly after his birth. And then, when Colette suddenly shows up to reclaim her son, the cracks in every relationship start to widen. Colette’s arrival in Belfast opens old wounds, triggers a bitter custody battle- and unearths secrets that will change everyone’s lives for ever.
Mary A. Larkin was born Mary Angelus McAnulty on the 11th April 1935 in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She was the oldest of three daughters, her sisters being Sue and Margaret, to Thomas and Molly Mc Anulty and lived all of her early life (until the of age 25) in the family home in Spinner Street on the Falls Road.
At the age of 4 and half years she started to attend the convent school St. Vincent's Primary where she underwent a transformation. There was already a girl called May McNulty at the school which caused a great deal of confusion among nuns, teachers and pupils alike. She was asked her confirmation name, which was Philomena, so for the rest of her school life she lived with the alias Phil McNulty. Many school friends will have been unaware that Mary A Larkin is in fact Phil McNulty from their childhood and teenage years.
After ten years she left St. Vincent's at the age of fourteen and went straight into the famous Blackstaff weaving shop, where she was soon weaving linen sheets, glass cloths and heavy duck material for tents.
When not at work Mary spent a lot of time in church and, in fact, even considered joining the nunnery before a friend persuaded her to dip her toe into the fast spreading world of ballroom dancing.Luckily, after a few dancing lessons she decided to bypass the nunnery.Every Friday night she took the short bus ride, with a friend, to Sammy Leckey's on the corner of North Street and on Wednesday night they would travel to Tommy McCarthy's on Royal Avenue in the centre of town.Before long they felt confident enough to take the plunge and start visiting popular "dance halls" of the time, her favourites being 'The Club Orchid' and 'The Fiesta'. It was at one such dance hall 'The Floral Hall' while dancing to the famous Victor Sylvester and his orchestra, that Mary met her husband-to-be Con Larkin whom she was to marry eighteen months later at the age of 25.
Mary and Con had three sons in 1961, 1963 and 1971 and in 1974, due to Con's work, decided to move to Darlington in England where they still live today, though they are frequent visitors to their home town. It was during one of these visits in 1990, while walking in the city centre with her sister Sue that she remarked how the city was changing so fast and becoming almost unrecognisable from their youth. They both discussed the subject for a while and came to the agreement that no-one had written any novels about the city around the era when they were growing up and the fact that any written works from Belfast invariably centred on the "troubles".
A void needed to be filled and Sue threw down the challenge to Mary, saying that if anyone could do it, she could. They had lunch in the city centre and before long they both forgot the conversation completely, but on returning to Darlington, Mary couldn't shake the idea from her mind and started jotting down notes and ideas on a writing pad. One pad turned into twelve pads and Mary realised she had the makings of a good sized book.While jotting down on these pads she never gave any thought to the fact that a publisher would have to read them at some point so she invested in an Amstrad wordprocessor and started to teach herself to type. The result of this was "The Wasted Years". As any writer will tell you, that isn't the end of the story. Next she had to find a publisher that liked the book enough to offer her a contract. Nervous, but undaunted by stories of new authors taking years before finding a publisher, if at all, she reminded herself of how many times The Beatles were turned down before they got that elusive deal.
As it turned out, she needn't have worried, after only a couple of attempts she was taken on by Judy Piatkus at Judy Piatkus (Publishers) Ltd., and 'The Wasted Years' was published in 1992. 'Ties of Love and Hate', For Better for Worse', 'Full Circle' and 'A Matter of Trust' all followed successfully before moving to Little Brown who released 'Playing with Fire' and 'Best Laid Plans'. Each of these titles reached No.1 in the bestseller lists for Northern Ireland serving to establish Mary as a household name in the region.
source - http://www.marylarkin.co.uk/
