Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
The Clare Byrne Show on Newstalk. With Aviva Insurance. Next guest is an author who has in the last few years been writing for children and young adults to huge acclaim. Her latest book deals with the complications that arise when a sixth class girl has to deal with the aftermath of a life changing injury. The book is called Saving Grace and Sinead Moriarty is here. Hello. Hello.
Lovely to see you. Lovely to be here. Now, you know, my daughter, Jane, who's 11, is a huge fan of yours. She got this book. She read it. And then I told her last night you were coming in. So she said to me, can I have the day off school to go to work with you today to meet Sinead? Because I love her.
Chapter 2: What is the new book 'Saving Grace' about?
Oh, that's so nice. That is so lovely. She's probably the first kid to have read it, by the way. Really? Because it's only officially out tomorrow.
Oh, she'll be thrilled to hear that. So you can tell her that. She didn't get the day off school, by the way.
She's in there. I know, I see she's not here.
She's in school and she's working away, but she did love this book. And I actually got her to read it so that she could sort of do her little review and pray for me. So she was doing some of my work for me.
But she told me the whole story and she was so invested in it because it deals with really tricky things like it deals with that awful accident that happens when a fire hurts Grace and causes her scarring. But then going back into school, some of the nasty comments. These are hard things to write, I would imagine, are they?
Yeah, I really wanted to write something around the whole idea of pretty and beauty and what it means. And so my books are for sort of 8 to 12 year olds, so just before and around the times they're getting mobile phones when suddenly how you look becomes really, really important. So Grace has her whole life always been told she's pretty. Oh, you're so pretty, you're so pretty, you're so pretty.
And then one Halloween night, the book opens with this, so it's not a spoiler. On Halloween night, her costume goes on fire and she gets burnt on the side of her face. And the whole book really is about who am I if I'm not pretty, even though she still is. And it's about how she realizes really that beauty is about compassion and kindness and empathy. I just wanted to explore that whole topic.
And also, when the accident happened, it doesn't just affect her, it affects her parents and her brother and affects her friends because everybody's kind of traumatised by it. Because the party where the accident happens, that's in their friend's house.
So there's three families who all live in the same cul-de-sac and they become really good friends and the accident happens in somebody else's house. So... Grace's parents blame them. They blame Grace's parents for not looking after their own child. And everybody is kind of upside down and inside out. And Grace's parents are obviously really upset because she's traumatised.
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Chapter 3: What challenges does the protagonist Grace face after her injury?
But also I wanted to look at the fact that Grace is so kind of obsessed with her issues and what happened to her. She's actually kind of tricky to be around for a while. And it's about how you have to be very patient with somebody who's upset. But she doesn't realize that Ali, her best friend, is also having a really tough time with things going on in her life.
And then eventually they have this fight and Ali goes, I've got stuff going on as well. And then Grace kind of realizes that she has just completely been self-absorbed. There's all those different issues that come when an accident happens or something happens to somebody and they're traumatised and upset and they become very kind of self-obsessed.
The other thing about the book is that Grace is kind of angry and she wants to lash out and they're doing a school play. And she would traditionally have always got the best part, but she actually gets the worst part. She's the donkey's bum. She's the bum of the donkey, yes, instead of being... Joseph or Mary. So she's fuming and she decides she wants to ruin the play.
And then as the book goes on, she realizes that, you know, lashing out at other people isn't going to make her feel better about herself. And then, in fact, it's about accepting the new her and, you know, understanding that she's got a fabulous family and gorgeous friends and that actually life is good. And she is not the same person. She's actually possibly a better version of her old self.
So it's again, it's all my books, Clare, you know, are about serious issues, but written in an engaging way.
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Chapter 4: How does Sinead Moriarty explore the themes of beauty and self-identity?
So, you know, we've had refugees and homelessness and I'm not going, there are these many homeless kids in Ireland. I'm kind of going worldwide. What would it feel like if you had to live in the boot of your car for a couple of weeks? What would it feel like if this happened to you? And I think kids really relate to that.
And it's lovely to hear that Jane, you know, was really engaged with the character. Because if you love the character, then you're going to walk a mile in their shoes. And that's what I'm trying to do. I want everybody to walk a mile in the shoes.
And you have walked miles in those shoes as well. Because I know, particularly with the refugee story, that you went and met refugees. And you made friends with people who you're still... friends with I mean you sort of have to do that level of work and research haven't you to be able to write something like this?
Well funny story about this I had researched an adult book and I did about three months research into burns and I started the book and I just couldn't get it to work it was about five maybe six years ago and I was absolutely devastated because I'd done all this really intense research And then I thought, hang on, that book might not have worked, but why don't I write one about a child?
So I actually had done a lot of the research. But with children's books, we're always very careful. We had a nurse from Burns Unit read the book to just make sure that everything was as it should be. And she only suggested two very small changes. And so, you know, that's obviously very important too. I don't want to frighten children.
I want to just make them just think outside the box a little bit.
What would it be like if... I'm loathe to call it a diversion, but you did. I mean, your stock and trade was the big family dramas written for adults. Then you started with the children's books. But now you're really far down this road, aren't you?
Yeah, well, I'm doing both and I'm managing to do both and loving to do both. I think with my adult books, I always had loads of kids in them because I loved writing about kids. And then I wanted to write kids books, but I wanted to write about something that was kind of serious but engaging. And then, as you said, my first book, The New Girl, was about a Syrian refugee.
And I met the amazing Sarah al-Hariri. who I went to her graduation, she graduated in pharmaceutical science. So she came here at 17 after a very traumatic time in Greece. And I just cried the whole time through her graduation. I was so proud of her. It's just ridiculous. I mean, what she has been through and what she's achieved. So people are amazing and kids are amazing and they're resilient.
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Chapter 5: What role do Grace's friends play in her recovery journey?
Yeah. I mean, I think it's all about momentum for me with writing. And if I keep pushing forward, then I might delete all of what I wrote, but at least the momentum is there. I keep moving forward all the time. I think it's really important as well, because when a book comes out, let's say it does really well. Great. Let's say it doesn't do as well as you hoped.
You're already immersed in a new book, so you're already moving ahead. So I think that's really important.
And do you plot out your story before you sit down to write a word?
Funnily enough.
You know what the ending is, in other words.
Interestingly, the adults book I do and the kids books, now I'm freer with the kids books. I just kind of go, I'm going to write about a little girl who gets burned and that's my opening scene and then I just go and see what happens. So actually, that's been really, really interesting.
It's also really unusual that you would have two different methods because I would have thought you would have to be very if you're very structured with the adult ones that you would do the same with the children's one. But there's something happening there.
Yeah, there's more of a freedom there, I think. And I let the kids take me where they want to go. I don't know. It's funny. Yeah, it's different. Well, it's working for you, Sinead. Thank you. It's working for you.
Saving Grace, very positively reviewed by 11-year-old Jane, who very sadly for her had to go to school. But you've signed the copy of the book, so she will be delighted with that, Sinead. Thank you so much for being with us. The book is called Saving Grace. It is out tomorrow. When the worst happens, you find out who your friends truly are by Sinead Moriarty.
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