Harold be thy name
Imagine
if God came down to Stoneybatter for a day and listened to the reflections
of an old Dub? Imagine further that this was not the uber-perfect, profound
God we expect but a much more humanised, doubting God?
These are the two main premises of Carpenterstown author Kieron Connolly’s
third novel, simply titled Harold. The book is an allegory of humanity
and its relationship with its maker and it has already created a good
deal of media interest from as far away as continental Europe.
For Kieron, this latter fact justifies the amount of time he spent writing
the novel. “My first two books – (Water Sign and There is
a House, both published by Mercier Press) – each took a year to
write,” he says. “Harold took three. My main problem was
that I could not get the character of God right! Eventually it came
to me that I needed to humanise him, give him self-doubts.
“The book is turning out to be a big surprise and it looks as
though I will be fully booked up for six months promoting it.”
Kieron’s first two books dealt with subjects as diverse as romance,
bereavement and addiction. Harold relates a love first crafted in the
heavens; sexual dysfunction in the extreme; and two thieves, Donald
and Mickey, simply doing the best that they can. It is a tale of humanity,
nothing too complicated, everything by the book. It covers seventy years
in the old Dublin village of Stoneybatter.
Born in 1961, everything about Kieron seems rooted in Dublin, although
his place of birth is Thurles, County Tipperary. He first came to public
attention when his play 'Tuesday' was produced in the late 1990s. A
nephew of musician (and former member of The Dubliners ) Bob Lynch,
he worked as a barman, baker and seaman before succumbing to the warm
embrace of the Revenue Commissioners.
In an unusual move, Kieron has decided not to publish the book with
Mercier but to take control of the publishing himself. To this end,
he has founded Jillbeck Books and hopes to publish further titles in
the future.
Harold is available from Easons in the Blanchardstown Centre or online
at www.jillbeckbooks.com.
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