A tale of intrigue set in rural Donegal

DARK CLOUD OVER MUCKISH

Written by Paul O’Donaghue

Published by Anchor House Press

Price: £10.99

WHEN Glaswegian Paul O’Donaghue ends up in lockdown after travelling to a small village on the north coast of Donegal for his mother’s funeral, he’s not unduly worried. After all, Mullaghbeg, with its green fields, rugged Atlantic coastline and myriad of childhood memories waiting to be unlocked provides the perfect antidote to the doom and gloom of a world ravaged mercilessly by the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Paul soon discovers that life in his rural haven is not all about coastal walks and afternoons devoted to watching A Place in the Sun. When not feuding with his land-grabbing neighbour, or being interrogated by the Gardai, he’s worrying about the contents of the holdall he has stashed under his bed, and the prospect of a hitman appearing any minute at his front door. Meanwhile, he finds himself negotiating a world populated by an assortment of quirky characters, where the eccentric and bizarre become his ‘new normal.’ A 250 mile road trip in a hearse, however, was not something he’d envisaged.

Paul O’Donaghue—a second generation Irish Glaswegian—is a freelance writer and journalist, whose work has appeared in a variety of publications including: The Irish Times, The Irish Post and Irish Mirror. He spoke to The Irish Voice about the inspiration for his new book, Dark Cloud Over Muckish.

“My mother’s funeral in Donegal during Covid-19 was the catalyst for the story,” he said. “I didn’t set out purposefully to write a book. It originally started life as a short description of the funeral with the Donegal News in mind, and it just seemed to grow arms and legs until it was suddenly a fully-fledged novel. The author Maggie O’Farrell once said about writing: ‘You don’t find the story; it finds you.’ That was certainly true in this instance.”

“That said, I have always wanted to write a story based on Donegal and its people—such lovely people,” Paul continued. “It’s a place I know well, having been going there since I was knee high. I love how the locals ask me when they haven’t seen me around the area for a while: ‘When did you come home?’ even though I’m born and bred in Glasgow. It’s that wonderful sense of belonging. I’m very proud of my Donegal roots. It’s something which I focus on a lot in the book.”

While the setting and the scenarios it presents—many of which are distinctly Donegal-esque—create a parochial context, the book will also have universal appeal with the pandemic forming the backdrop to the narrative—an elderly relative dying alone in a nursing home, the sparsely populated funeral, the restrictions on our travel, the dread of turning on the news to be told about another ‘variant of concern.’ It’s an attempt by the author to relive that period, but with a more gentle vibe. There’s a fair bit of humour in it.

“My editor tells me he laughed out loud when reading some parts,” Paul said. “Okay, he may be biased, but I’m hoping my readers will find it genuinely funny.”

There’s also—as you’d expect—a lot of pathos. The early chapters incorporate flashbacks of Paul’s life with his mother, an elderly dementia sufferer. He tries to capture the emotional pain of those episodes and the guilt they subsequently induced—something that is very much based on personal experience.

“Even now, I get tearful reading back over them,” he said. “I’ve thrown in little snippets that I know will resonate with those second generation Donegal Glaswegians, like myself, who spent their childhood summer holidays over there,” Paul added. “For example, the wakes that would be held in local houses, with ‘the remains’ stationed in a back room and all the neighbours and family gathered round reciting the rosary in Irish—those are the kind of memories that never leave you. Anyone with a gean for Doherty’s sausages or McCambridge soda bread will find themselves in familiar territory.

“I’ve no doubt people will speculate as to the true identity of Mullaghbeg, the fictional village in which the story is set. That’s something I have no intention of revealing! The truth is Mullaghbeg and its inhabitants could be anywhere in the county—or I suppose, Ireland. Donegal provides fertile territory for any author wishing to portray rural life in all its eccentricity, as well its kindness and its sense of community, which is something I’ve tried to capture. I’m always amazed at how the local community over there rallies round whenever someone in the area dies. In the book, I describe it as ‘a world where personal tragedy is not the preserve of the individual and a supporting hand is never too far from your doorstep.’ That’s such a rare phenomenon in an age where it seems everyone has become increasingly caught up in their own lives. It deserves to be celebrated.”

He continued: “I chose the title to reflect a sense of the place. Anyone who knows Muckish, knows there’s nearly always a cloud clinging to its summit. It also serves as a dual metaphor in the book—for the pandemic that was casting its dark shadow over all our lives at the time, and for the grief that stalks Paul in the wake of his mother’s death.

“Of course, no story set in rural Ireland would be complete without a land feud. I’ve included one of those as well. That bit didn’t require too much imagination!”

So, there might be a Dark Cloud Over Muckish, but this book shines a light on yet another talented writer within Ireland’s worldwide diaspora.

Dark Cloud Over Muckish by Paul O’Donaghue is available in both Kindle and paperback format on Amazon priced at £4.99 and £10.99 respectively