Death of a friend drove Cork mum to be a novelist

THE death of a friend is what motivated Cork mother-of-four, Lynda Marron, to commit to writing her first novel.

Lynda, who has a Masters degree in microbiology, always loved English and has been keeping a diary since she was 13, after being tasked by a student teacher at Scoil Mhuire.

Being a conscientious type, she started her diary as a homework assignment - and never stopped. The teacher told the class to write about their emotions as well as events, and it paid off.

Lynda’s debut novel, Last Chance In Paris, was published by Eriu on February 7. It was inspired by visits to the City of Love, about which she wrote in her diary.

The genre of Lynda’s novel is described as “commercial women’s fiction”. When the main character Claire agrees to go to Paris with her husband Ronan for a romantic break, she immediately regrets it, wondering how one weekend in the iconic city could save their marriage given the tragedy they’ve been through. But she goes there.

She and her husband are not the only people on a make-or-break visit to Paris. There’s a big-shot movie producer from Hollywood, full of regret for a badly-lived life; a student from Boston who is torn between love and duty; a Ukrainian refugee struggling to protect her young sister; and an elderly woman from Dijon, hoping to be braver than she has ever had to be.

Their lives intertwine, sparking “something extraordinary. There’s a bit of magic in the book so it’s not entirely bound by reality,” says Lynda.

Over coffee in a Cork café, Lynda its to me that the prospect of doing media interviews and readings of her book to promote it filled her with dread.

Describing herself as an introvert, she says she was perfectly happy staying at home rearing her children, who now range in age from 12 to 25.

“I was a rare case. I really wanted to have kids and a traditional family. I gave it my all,” says Lynda.

I know that lots of women miss adult company and feel lonely staying at home, but I didn’t. I was lucky.

“When the children were small, I had one or two friends also staying at home. We ed each other.”

As the children got older, Lynda started a blog.

“It was a big leap, letting people see my writing,” she says, That was absolutely terrifying.

“Then for our 20th anniversary, my husband, Michael, brought me to Paris. It was a long-promised trip and we had a charmed weekend, staying in a tiny Air B’n B near Montmartre.

I had been in Paris at 20 as an au pair and adored it. I had longed to go back.

Cut to 15 years previously, when Michael gave Lynda a Moleskine notebook on the occasion of their fifth wedding anniversary. They couldn’t afford to go to Paris but Michael inscribed the words ‘For when I take you to Paris’ on the front page of the notebook.

“I took the notebook out of a drawer and brought it with me on our trip to Paris,” says Lynda.

“I wrote notes on what I saw. Michael’s birthday was a month later and for that, I wrote up an of our weekend in Paris and got the whole thing bound.”

In 2018, a good friend of the couple from their UCC days, Finbar Livesey, also a scientist, published a political/economics book. He was a Fellow of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Not having been in touch with Finbar for ten years, Lynda emailed him to congratulate him on the book, saying she was “dead jealous”.

She added: “I think we both had a secret ambition to be writers. Finbar said to me that it is fiction that really matters. He said he was trying to write a novel and would I read it.”

Lynda made suggestions on how to improve the novel.

“But Finbar wasn’t entirely pleased with me just being the critic. He said I should have some skin in the game also.

I wasn’t writing anything at the time, but he was very persuasive, so I took out my of the weekend in Paris and started fictionalising it and expanding it.

“That’s how I started my novel, emailing it to Finbar. We critiqued each other’s writing and encouraged each other.”

But, tragically, Finbar became ill with an aggressive form of cancer and died 18 months later. During his illness, the two friends wrote to each other with great openness.

“I was trying to think of something to send to Finbar,” says Lynda. “I had given him Seamus Heaney books and boxes of chocolates but couldn’t think of anything else.

“In one of his emails, Finbar mentioned that he was reading the scripts for The West Wing. He had been a massive fan of it. On the off-chance, I googled an address and sent a letter to Martin Sheen’s son’s production company.”

Sheen, who played Jed Bartlet in The West Wing, wrote back within a week. He sent a signed photograph of himself and the cast in the Oval office as well as a five-page letter on headed notepaper to Finbar “with the most beautiful handwriting”.

Lynda recalls; “The letter was kind and well-considered. Only a few days later, Finbar died. He had small children and the family was just trying to keep going so the letter and photograph gave them something to talk about.”

Finbar’s wife asked Lynda to speak at the funeral.

I was completely freaked out but I said ‘yes, of course’. As soon as I got off the phone, I panicked.

But Lynda rose to the occasion in Cambridge in a big room that reminded her of the dining hall in Hogwarts from Harry Potter.

“It was the most intimidating and terrifying thing. But I did it.

“Two things struck me. Nothing was ever going to be as scary as talking to 500 Cambridge academics. Also, Finbar didn’t get to finish his novel.

“When one of your friend group dies, you sort of owe the world something from them. You have to live a little bit harder to make up for what they didn’t get to do.

It was like a switch that turned on. I was determined to write my novel.

In 2022, Lynda attended a ‘meet-the-agent’ event at the Cork World Book Festival. There, she met an agent, Polly Nolan, whose approach she liked.

“As luck would have it, Polly came back to me after I applied to her. I sent her the novel. I heard nothing for months. I was considering getting a job in Waterstones.”

Eventually, Polly got in touch with Lynda, saying she liked the book and thought we could do something with it.

“When Michael came home from work that day, I said ‘We’re going to Paris, for research.’ That was our 25fth wedding anniversary, as luck would have it.”

Lynda got a two-book deal and says the second novel will be published this time next year.

Not bad going for someone who dreaded going public with her writing. And a nice tribute to Finbar for his encouragement and friendship.