Maggie O’Farrell

And I feel when I'm in Ireland, I feel quite British just for the way I talk.

Although my passport is Irish and always has been.

And I'm very proud of that.

I did.

Yes, I did.

I do.

I suppose so.

Yeah, I don't ever, I hope nobody feels like I'm trespassing on anyone else's beliefs or, but it just felt, it just, it was a story that just wouldn't go away.

And I don't know who else would have written about my great-great-grandfather.

It is based in your family history, so it does seem legitimate.

I remember I was worried about it.

I was talking to my husband and he said, to be honest, he said, you've got more right to write this than you have about 16th century England or Renaissance Florence.

And I thought, oh, yeah, that's true, actually.

I hadn't thought of it that way.

I've heard it said that Ireland's biggest export is not, in fact, Guinness.

It's people.

And I'm sure that's true.

I think it's...

Yeah, I mean, it's inevitable, you know, and I always think emigration is not... It's usually at the heart of it a sad story, isn't it?

And when I think about those people who left their homelands, not just Irish people, everywhere, in the 19th century or whatever, it was such an extraordinary thing to do.