Maggie O’Farrell

And very much still is.

I think he's one of those emigrants who's never quite got over leaving Ireland.

I mean, he said the other day that he's thinking about moving back.

And we had to say, Dad, you're 85.

Is that a good idea?

Yeah, absolutely.

So my dad would only ever read Irish myths to us when we were kids.

And we used to kind of beg him, you know, please can you read us Pippi Longstocking or whatever?

And he never would.

He insisted on reading Irish myths.

And I mean, I used to find it annoying at the time, but now I'm actually really glad that he did because I think those...

those cycles, the plots of battles and giants and long feuds, and also that whole sort of atmosphere and the tropes of those myths have really formed a kind of bedrock of narrative in my head, you know, and I've always been really fascinated in...

the sort of seeds of truth and myth.

You know, I find it fascinating that there's so many giants in the Irish myth.

And it's also a country that was very much invaded and influenced by the Hiberno-Norse, who presumably looked a little bit like giants when they arrived.

So I think, you know, it's very kind of present in my mind.

And I really wanted to

have as much of that kind of animism of the land and the landscape and the natural world being alive and vocalized and being able to alter the lives of human characters as happens in Irish myth.

Imagine if my parents had read me stories about the medicis and murders.

Now, that came a little bit later in life, Pat.