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Catherine Doyle: ‘Death and loss do exist in the world of children, so I never try to shy away from them’

The latest novel by the children’s author draws from her own childhood, when her brother became seriously ill

Catherine Doyle: 'Galway is my heart stone, my touchstone'

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Edel Coffey
Sun Mar 24 2024 - 05:15

“Here’s what I know about children,” says Galway children’s author Catherine Doyle. We’re sitting in a busy local coffee shop, in the seaside suburb just west of Galway city where she lives. She looks like the human embodiment of a Disney princess – huge, expressive eyes, tumbling blond hair and a vivacious personality, which makes her excellent company. “Children are really clever, really intuitive and they love a good villain – as do I.”

We’re meeting to discuss her new novel, Pirates of Darksea, her 13th book in a 10-year career that has seen her work published in over 25 languages. It is set in her native Galway city and tells the story of Christopher, who is seriously ill in hospital with cancer. His parents are praying for a miracle. When the Pirate King Captain O’Malley comes to Galway looking for a new crew member, Christopher’s younger brother, Max, volunteers in the hope of finding a magic cure for his brother.

The inspiration for the story comes directly from Doyle’s own childhood, when her brother became seriously ill for a time. (He later made a full recovery.) “It was a very formative experience for me,” she says. “Instead of moping around and making it worse, we had to continue living our lives and hope that he would get better and catch up, while also knowing that he might not.”

Was she hesitant about writing about such serious matter for children? “I think the first thing to recognise is that children face just as much if not more challenges than us and that death and loss do exist in the world of children, so I never try to shy away from them. But I do try to show children that they are capable of bravery and resilience and always to infuse a little bit of hope around these themes. I think that’s very Irish anyway: we deal with these sad facets of life in the same way.”

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Doyle’s work is steeped in Irish culture and mythology. Her bestselling Storm Keeper trilogy was inspired by a trip she made to her grandparents’ home of Arranmore. When she returned to Galway, she wrote 10,000 words in a week. But she worried that the Irish aspects of the story would not appeal to a wider audience. She sent it to her agent anyway, who quickly sold the book on the basis of those 10,000 words alone and the series went on to be published in 27 countries.

“It sparked a huge turning point in my career,” she says, “where I began to write very seriously for children specifically. I feel that kids’ stories are so powerful because they don’t shy away from that innate sense of wonder that is so inherent in Irish storytelling. Every time I write a children’s book I connect with my inner child, and it’s a sad day if I ever lose that bond because I feel like she’s probably the one who is steering me on this path and keeping me inside of my passion at all times.”

It took Doyle a while to find her passion. She spent her earliest years in Jamaica, where her mother, a doctor; and father, a teacher, did missionary work. They returned to Galway, where Doyle grew up and later studied psychology at NUIG. “I never thought I would be an author. I didn’t think that that was a legitimate career goal.”

There is one book in the back of my mind that I would love to write for adults. It’s very loosely inspired by my grandparents’ love story

After graduating, she began a master’s in health psychology but left on the first day. “I’ve had these moments in my life, I call them lightning-bolt moments, and they don’t happen very often but when they happen it’s impossible for me to ignore them. So I just stood up in the middle of the very first lecture and walked out and walked all the way home. I went into the kitchen and burst out crying and said, ‘I don’t know what I want to do with my life’.” Her mother called in the local priest, who quoted Mary Oliver and asked Doyle what she wanted to do with her “one wild and precious life”. The answer was waiting for her: books.

“That was the first big swerve I’ve ever taken in my life. Before that I was pretty safe; I never did anything that wasn’t expected of me. I thought I would do something in medicine because my mom was so good at being a doctor. I realised over the following years that what I admired about my mom was how hard-working and passionate she was about her job. That didn’t mean I was going to have the same passion for the job that she had. I had passion for something else. So instead of following in her footsteps, I had to follow in her passion.”

Doyle now lives with her Californian husband in Galway and I wonder how important it is for her to be based in her hometown, when she might just as easily swap the year-round rain for the year-round sunshine of her husband’s home?

“Galway is my heart stone, my touchstone,” she says. “My family are here, yes, but I also think everything – from the smell of the sea to the wilds of Connemara to the comforting rumble of the storm – I just feel like it charges me and my imagination in a way I never had when I’ve been visiting America or even when I lived in Dublin. I honestly think it’s the magic of the west.”

When I think of myself at 23, back then I was writing just to write. Now I write with the intention of having something meaningful to say

A question that is often – unfairly – asked of children’s writers is when they will start writing adult fiction, but I ask the question anyway: does she have an adult novel in her?

“There is one book in the back of my mind that I would love to write for adults. It’s very loosely inspired by my grandparents’ love story.” Her grandparents met as children on Arranmore and, after emigrating to Chicago, they returned to live on the island where her grandmother was a teacher, and grandfather the captain of the ferry Naomh Éanna. When he was coming into port after a long day at work, he would radio to Doyle’s grandmother, and say “Hello Bluebird” to let her know that he was on his way home.

When the ship was retired in the 1980s, the family didn’t know where it ended until Doyle’s brother moved to Dublin and spotted it across the canal basin from his window one day. “He couldn’t believe it. He would visit it periodically and come home and give my grandfather updates.” Her grandfather died during Covid, followed two years later by her grandmother. “On the night that she died, the Naomh Éanna listed on its side and began to sink. For me that was all the sign I needed that she was with my grandfather and the two of them were off to a distant shore,” says Doyle. It would indeed make a beautiful novel, I tell her. “It’s a big gear switch from writing fast-paced magic to a slower, deeper, more realistic story,” she says. “I don’t know if I’m quite ready to do it yet but it’s on my bucket list.”

At the age of 33 and with 13 books and much international success to her name, how does she feel about writing now? “When I think of myself at 23, back then I was writing just to write. Now I write with the intention of having something meaningful to say.” As for success, for her it simply means being able to write. “Finding your passion and being able to dwell in it and make a living from it, that to me is success. Sometimes if I feel a looming deadline, I really try and redirect to a feeling of extreme gratefulness because I am where I am through a lot of grit and hard work and it’s no accident.”

Before we finish up I ask her about the core tenet that runs through all of children’s fiction, from Harry Potter and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory to the Chronicles of Narnia, which is the unwavering belief that good will always vanquish evil. Does she subscribe to that? “The badness of life can come at you in many forms. Either way you have to face down that evil as best you can. What’s key is we retain a sense of hope and optimism that all things are possible. I believe that to be true. That is how I live my life.”

Pirates of Darksea is out now, published by Bloomsbury; Burning Crowns is published by Electric Monkey on April 25th

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