The Long Road to The Betrayal

Four years ago I started writing a new novel. Six months from start to finish, I said to myself as I sat on a sunny apartment balcony in Spain and wrote the opening lines. The following spring – among the rugged rocks and wild Atlantic Way of the artist’s retreat in Cill Rialaig – I revised my prediction and thought…maybe I should give this book a year. Autumn came and I sat in the tranquil surroundings of the Tyrone Guthrie Centre and promised myself another six months. In between these welcome escapes from my burrow of an office I worked and worked…the problem was that I wasn’t working on my book. Things kept interfering, other writing commissions, and minor and major distractions that came under the heading of Life. Every time I came back to my book it was like the beginning all over again – except that I’d stopped making predictions. So, you can imagine my delight yesterday when the cover of my new novel, The Betrayal was finally revealed – and the publication date set for the 14 August.