BILLY Conn has just published his 12th novel and has already started the next one.
‘When I finish a book, I immediately start another,’ said Billy.
‘It’s almost obsessional and I get withdrawal symptoms if I am not trying to think of something creative.’
Hunger in the Stones, Billy’s latest novel, is set during the Great Famine and follows the story of Catherine Dorgan, who has been living away with her ailing sister before feeling drawn to move back to Ireland.
In the novel, Catherine carries with her a hint of mental health problems and thinks she is being followed by a dark stranger but cannot be sure that he exists.
‘I was always very interested in the history of the famine and having decided on retirement to the Schull area, I began to research it and just got hooked. I felt that there are plenty of good histories written, and I’m no historian, so I wanted to do something that used history, but that personalised it a bit through the lives of different characters,’ said Billy.
When Catherine returns to Ireland it is mid-1945, which gave Billy an opportunity to have a baseline of what life was like for her and those around her before the famine.
‘When it became obvious how widespread the famine was, Catherine began helping Reverend Robert Traill in the soup kitchen, but those around her became concerned about her mental health as her mother also suffered from it and it was thought to be a sort of familial insanity.’
It is no wonder that mental health issues come to the fore in Billy’s novel as he originally trained as a psychologist in Ireland before leaving to work in England in 1971.
‘In the story, Catherine doesn’t believe in curses, but I would say that the real curse would be being able to see both sides of any story at the same time, which meant that in any situation Catherine entered, she was going to be lonely because she had no natural associates, because people are always suspicious if someone isn’t like themselves,’ said Billy.
Billy’s book will be stocked in local bookshops and is also available online.
Billy has also written a series of thrillers under the pen name of Kingsley Cross.
For further details visit www.billy-conn.net
