Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Introducing Brigid - a synopsis

An Australian woman travelling to Ireland for the first time finds she has an uninvited companion, the ghost of her great great aunt, Brigid. Not content to follow the planned itinerary, Brigid almost immediately dictates the route they will take, the places they will visit and the impressions which the woman must form along the way.

The woman soon realises that Brigid is on a mission to set right a wrong which had been perpetrated before she left Ireland to migrate to Australia at the height of the Great Potato Famine. Though she is spare with information about this deed and how it involves her, it would appear that its victim was a member of the rebel organisation Young Ireland who had come to her aid when she was attacked by her landlord's overseer. His kindness had unforeseen consequences for her family and the community she lived in as it brought them under the suspicion of the British authorities.

Through the snippets of information the woman is able to glean from Brigid, together with what she learns from her own research, a picture emerges of the impact of the Great Potato Famine on the Burren region of County Clare. She also understands why the activities of Young Ireland did more harm than good at a time when the population was too hungry to think of rebellion. She is able to forgive Brigid's disruption of her holiday as she attempts to find a way for the ghost to finally find her rest.

Find Brigid on Amazon

6 comments:

  1. Hi Jill - I found you through your link on the BookBlogs discussion page, and very glad I did. What you say in a previous post about shelf-space in bookshops, smaller print runs and limited time to sell is so true - not only in Australia, I can assure you. As a British writer (five novels and a new out soon)this has been a pet whinge of mine for many years.

    Good luck with what you're doing - I shall be an interested follower of this blog. I have my own writing/arts blog, also as a kind of marketing focus.

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  2. It is so good to hear from a kindred spirit out there. Can you tell me more about your books and writing experiences.

    Jill

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  3. This sounds like a fantastic book. I LOVE anything to do with ghosts ;)

    I'm following.

    ecwrites.blogspot.com

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  4. Over four trips to Ireland to write this book Brigid became very real in my mind. I could see her sitting in my rental car watching my every move. I reckon she looked very like my Aunt Kate, small, wiry and with a sharp tongue

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  5. Hi again, Jill. Re: my books and writing, probably the best I can do on here is point you in the direction of my website and blog:

    www.deborah-lawrenson.co.uk
    After three mainstream published novels, I published the fourth myself - the usual rollercoaster publishing history - but all came good.

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  6. Dear Deborah,

    Just a quick look at your website and blog. It's past my bedtime so I will look at them tomorrow and hopefully track down your books. They look good and so does your experience in France. It is my dream to get there soon but it is so far away from here,

    Jill

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