In 2019, journalist and broadcaster Aingeala Flannery won the Harper’s Bazaar short-story competition for her tale Visiting Hours, which tells the story of Helen Grant, a young girl brought to visit her alcoholic father in a mental hospital in Waterford.
After the story won the top prize and was published online, Flannery realised she couldn’t get Helen’s character out of her mind.
“This little girl, what happened to her, did she stay in Tramore ... what kind of job did she get, did she go to college, was she happy ... it was just endless questions about this character” she explains to Róisín Ingle on the latest episode of The Irish Times Women’s Podcast.
What evolved from this search for answers about Helen’s life eventually became The Amusements, her debut novel which was released last month.
Also set in the seaside town of Tramore, Co Waterford, the story is told through Helen and a diverse cast of characters who capture the joy, frustration and limitations of living in a small town.
“I suppose it’s a book about home, about belonging, or not belonging or having to escape from where you come from” she says.
In this conversation, we also hear about Flannery’s decision to leave her full time employment to pursue writing full time.
“I don’t care about handbags and designer clothes, I’ve got a banger of a car that broke down on me in Waterford last week ... It’s more important that I like what I do everyday, it’s just that simple”.
