Anne Tiernan on family trauma and running from the past in her first novel, 'The Last Days of Joy'

Good Reading Podcast

Meet the Tobin family... Joy is an immigrant who left Ireland with her three children under difficult circumstances. She is a troubled mother who has spent her life running and hiding from her past while trying to raise her children in New Zealand as best she can. Conor, the high-achieving son is a high-profile media figure and CEO. He's walking a fine line between self-promotion and self-detonation. Frances, the 'perfect' middle child - now a wife and mother - is about to make a mistake that could destroy her marriage. And then there's Sinead, the youngest daughter and acclaimed writer who is wrestling with writer's block. Sinead resorts to desperate measures to deliver her next book to her publishers. When Joy's children receive the news that she has only days to live, they rush to her side. Each is at a crossroads in their lives and together they must deal with their collective past in the hope of ensuring up their future.
In this episode Gregory Dobbs chats to Anne Tiernan about the trauma of dislocation and the void it creates, how a mother's dysfunctional life can cast a long shadow over her children, and even in tragedy there is light at the end of the Tobin family tunnel.