Templeogue native Emma Quigley pens her first book
By Hayden Moore
BANK is a teenage fiction book written by Templeogue’s Emma Quigley about a bunch of pupils in school who decide to start their very own bank.
Emma, 40, decided to write her first book after overhearing her son’s conversations with his friends, when he was first going into secondary school – 5 years ago.
“When I would be chit-chatting with his friends, they told me that they stopped reading altogether. I noticed that all the books aimed at boys where otherworld stories – fantasy, spy stories, and thrillers.
“I feel there was maybe a gap in the market for this story, something that is full of snappy funny dialogue between a group of young lads.” Ms Quigley told The Echo.
With purposeful parallels to the banking crisis, Emma chose to tell a comedic tale about the bond between a bunch of lads in school.
“I wanted to showcase friendship between boys – with the message in the story being that you can have as much money or none at all, but you will always have your friends.”
Speaking about her love of comedy books and author Enid Blyton, Emma told the Echo about what influenced her growing up.
“I love comedy books, like I’m currently listening to an audio book of ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’. But growing up, I loved Enid Blyton and would have read a lot of ‘The Famous Five’.
“When I was 11, I read a three-in-one book of ‘The Lord of the Rings’ – and that really stuck with me.”
Having originally written the first draft when her now college-going son was only starting secondary school, Emma spoke about the process of getting the book published.
“I spent a long time writing the book. I first started writing it when my son was 12, and it’s getting published now so it’s been a long road from start to finish.
“I wrote the full first draft myself, and then came back and re-edited before I sent it around to different publishers. When I met the publisher Little Island, I knew straight away that it was going to be a perfect fit for my book because they publish a lot of comedy.
‘Bank’ by Emma Quigley will be on bookshelves around the country on Thursday, March 8.
