Meeting Mae: Debut novel by Karen O’Connor

PALMERSOWN-born Karen O’Connor, currently living in Leixlip, is delighted to announce the publication of her debut novel, ‘Meeting Mae’ by Poolbeg Press.

The synopsis reads as follows: “Susan’s secondary infertility journey is shrouded in shame.

“She is trying to give her husband, Declan, the big family they’ve always dreamed of.

“But she is keeping a secret.

“A secret not even her best friend Gayle knows. Octogenarian Mae is minding her own business when a distracted Susan almost runs her over.

“The women form an unlikely friendship, and long-suppressed stories and emotions are stirred within them both.

“As Susan’s fertility treatments continue to fail, she must decide whether to keep on fighting for that elusive third child.

“Herself and Mae reveal their deepest, darkest secrets to each other, but the unravelling doesn’t end with them.

“The consequences of letting her secret out almost cost Susan her marriage and the family of four she loves so much.

“Can she finally put the past behind her and fix what she has right now?”

This week, we sat down with Karen to discuss ‘Meeting Mae’, which was released on July 4.

Based on the synopsis, it sounds like a lovely story!

I hope people like it!

I mean, I love the characters and the story has come to me nearly 10 years since I started writing this book.

I just really liked the two women.

I like the younger woman being friends with the older woman.

I think we have a lot to learn from older women, so I wanted to have that kind of dynamic in there.

So yeah, I hope people like it!

Can you tell us a bit about what inspired the book?

I actually started writing the book in 2014, so 10 years ago—quite a long time ago.

I was living in America at the time.

I’d already had a few small bits published in Ireland, but I knew I wanted to write a book.

Myself and my husband at the time had gone through fertility treatments; it didn’t work for us.

I have children, so I was kind of in that space of wanting more but not being able to have more.

Susan came from that; I started to investigate other women who may have gone through the same thing and then I started looking at it.

She was the first character, and then Mae hopped in naturally; she just popped into my mind.

We all have these older relatives and she’s probably a mishmash of lots of different people that I’ve met in my life: a bit of my grandmothers, a bit of my friends, a bit of my mom—just so many older, wiser, funny women.

That character came to mind; I thought she could help Susan out with her dilemma.

I think a lot of my writing therapy starts with a real experience, and then you start to write about it, build it out, and things just take off and the story starts to be born in your mind.

As a result, that really served as inspiration.

And again, I was living in America at the time, and I was missing home, so I just felt it needed to be a suburban Dublin story.

How was the production process?

As an avid reader who wanted to write a book, I decided to read some books about writing books!

But eventually, I said to myself, “You’re going to have to sit down and just start writing!”.

It just took off then.

It took me about a year to write.

By the time I finished it, I was home and all from America, but it helped to just do a little bit as often on record.

Obviously, not seven days a week.

And learning how to structure it was probably the biggest challenge.

My first draft was 110,000 words; it’s only 80,000 now.

I didn’t really know how to edit it, so I went back to the books to find out what I should do next.

It started getting rejections, so I was thinking that the story wasn’t great, so I put it away for a few years and started writing something else, but these two characters kept coming to mind, and I was determined to get it published.

I went to Maynooth in 2019 and took a creative writing course to get some tips and advice.

I started really working on it again last year; I really honed it and made it as good as I thought it could be.

I submitted to Poolbeg, and within about three or four weeks, they got back to me with a three-book deal!

So, follow your gut and don’t give up on your dreams!

What is next for you after the release of ‘Meeting Mae’?

I already have a three-book deal so I’m hoping the next book will be out in 2025, hopefully in mid-spring.

Then I’ll have to write another so I have to get my thinking cap on. I think it’s funny that I have to say I’m an author now; I think that’s hilarious because I’ve been wanting to say it for years, and being able to say it now is good!

Who would you like to thank?

Ultimately, Paula from Poolbeg for seeing something in the book and believing in the book, because without her bringing it to the team and getting the ball rolling, this wouldn’t be happening.

I’d obviously like to thank my family as well!

But definitely the publishers for having faith in me and taking a chance on me.

I know they know what they’re doing, but for me, this is huge.

I’m really, really grateful for the chance to get my work out there.

That’s got to be the main thing.