New Irish novel features several Athlone locations

by David Flynn

Mick Donnellan was an Athlone resident and employee in the town for several years in the 2010s and has included many locations from the town in his latest novel, ‘Galway Blues.’

Mick has made a career of writing fiction, whether it be novels, plays or a feature film, ‘Tiger Raid’ which starred Brian Gleeson (son of Brendan and star and IFTA nominee of the Apple TV + hit series, ‘Bad Sisters’) and Sofia Boutella (who also starred as female lead alongside Tom Cruise in ‘The Mummy’).

He is philosophical about his own writing, and about the art of creating in general, and taught a Creative Writing course over many years in AIT.

“I’m always learning as a writer, and I find you get influenced by other writers and after writing like those that influence you, you then find your own voice,” said Mick, to the Westmeath Independent this week. “It’s called separation anxiety when you detach yourself from your influences and go on your own to a place where you’ve gorged the knowledge, jumbled it up in a blender to find your own voice as an artist. The influences filter through our subconsciousness and set you on a path.”

Lately his own influences have been some acclaimed television series, like ‘The Wire’, Netflix’s ‘The Bear’ and BBC’s ‘Gavin and Stacey’.

“Gavin and Stacey is so simple, about two families, and it’s just a human story,” said Mick, who is a native of Ballinrobe, Co. Mayo.

He laughed about the selling of his and other books, and about the old statement, ‘you never judge a book by its cover,’

“It’s the most untrue statement ever because everybody judges a book by its cover,” he said laughing. “You judge the colour, the title or the feeling of the texture.”

Mick’s new novel, ‘Galway Blues’ deals with his recurring lead character, Charlie, who is haunted by past events and drowns his grief in alcohol and risky pursuits through west and east Athlone, and the west of Ireland, notably Ballinrobe and Galway. Charlie, who is a pickpocket that has moved into more serious crime, appeared in Mick’s first book, ‘El Nino’.

“I brought my theatre experience into the book with the female lead being an actress who gets involved in the criminal world, through researching for an acting role, and she ends up in a violent relationship,” said Mick. “She is conflicted and identifies with the gangster she’s involved with, but can she withstand the power lure of the money, or stand back from it?”

Mick said there is a good twist at the end of ‘Galway Blues’. He reveals it took him six months to write the novel and wrote it at various times throughout the day and night.

“I find night-time good as a writer, and if I wake at 3am and can’t get back to sleep, I’d have to write, whether it be a line or one hundred words and then sleep when the writing is done,” said Mick. “I write on a laptop, but find pen and paper is good for research and when trying to work out a problem.”

‘Galway Blues’ by Mick Donnellan is available on Amazon and on buythebook.ie and mickdonnellan.com