‘YOU HAVE TO BE VULNERABLE
& honest to write something truthful’
Author Jenny Ireland has opened up about the inspiration behind her“personal”new book — and how she hopes it could“reach someone who’s had a brain injury or just give some insight into what it’s like to have one”. The book, which was released earlier this month, focuses on Finbar and Molly, childhood best pals and neighbours who spent hours and hours together when growing up — until they didn’t.
At 18, the two of them move in very different circles — until they’re pulled together at a party one night, in a way that neither of them expects.
A life-changing year follows, one that will see them experiencing friendship and love and everything in between.
And Jenny told Chic how she hopes that the book resonates with people — and how there weren’t any nerves about incorporating her own experiences into the story.
She said,“i feel like you have to be vulnerable and honest if you want to write something truthful and make it resonate with people — and I hope it does.”
The author also opened up about the inspiration behind the book and the creation of Molly’s character.
She said, “It’s about Molly and Finbar, who were childhood friends. The book starts — on the face of it, they are so very different and they don’t like each other.
“And then Molly has a brain injury and her dad sort of comes to Finbar and asks, ‘could you maybe go and see her, because we don’t know if her memory is great; this might help, because you’re such good friends’.
“Then, they have to sort of rekindle this relationship and make it into something new.
“It was so personal, I guess, this book — and what Molly went through. I had a brain injury ve years ago, and I think it was sort of during recovery, and I was desperately trying to not feel sorry for myself, I was like, ‘what could be worse? What could be a worse situation here?’
“I felt that if a teenage girl had what I went through — a beautiful teenage girl, who’s obsessed with looks and all that
— in my view, could have it worse than my situation, just with all those raging hormones and having to deal with all that.
“That’s where Molly came from — and the rest followed after.”
The Belfast-based author drew upon her own experiences with encephalitis, an infection of the brain, when writing Molly’s character.
She recalled,“it was 2019, just before Covid, when I got a virus. I remember
Author Jenny Ireland on the inspiration behind her “personal” new book — and how she hopes it helps those who have had a brain injury… By Keeley Ryan
having a sore head — and it turned out it [was a virus that] had attacked my brain.
“There was in ammation, and it had to go away so they had to put a drain in to get the uid out of my brain.
“But that didn’t work, so they had to go back in and do surgery and they’ve put a shunt in.
“It’s sort of a permanent contraption that drains uid from my brain to my abdomen.
“I don’t think it’s needed anymore, I just don’t think they’re going to take it out.
“But it was mad, because my kids were so wee at the time — they were maybe only four and ve when it happened. It was ve weeks in hospital, ICU and HDU and the rest of it, and an incredibly long recovery after.”
Jenny added that a good support network was “100%” so important.
She continued,“something I found, actually — I had the most incredible support network; my dad was a doctor and my family and my friends, all of them are brilliant.
“But still, I’d never felt so alone in my whole life.
“And there wasn’t much — when I got out of the hospital, for me, there wasn’t much sort of care after.which was ne. And I was ne. But it was incredibly difficult to deal with.
“Since then, I’ve noticed that there are a few charities that do deal with that — like actress Game of Thrones Emilia Clarke, she set one up with her mum and it’s speci cally to deal with the aftermath of brain injuries in young people, which is brilliant. But I de nitely found that difficult.”
Jenny shared how important it was for her to have the representation in her book — and how she hopes it may“reach someone who’s had a brain injury or give some just insight into what it’s like to have one.”
She said,“i think it feels like a speci c thing, an acquired brain injury. But I can see how widespread it is and how many different types of brain injuries there are.
“I was incredibly lucky in that I’ve got some memory issues, that’s about it. But there are people who are dealing with so much more.
“Even that was quite difficult to deal with — and I’m sure there are so many people who are going through that.
“And with The First Move, getting the messages of people relating to Juliet and things — that was one of the most special things ever, it was magic.
“I’m hoping it could reach someone who’s had a brain injury or give some just insight into what it’s like to have one.”
The Boy Next Door is Jenny’s second book, with her rst — the First Move — having been published last year.
The author told how while the experience of writing the books was“mostly the same”, she found herself struggling more with Molly’s character.
She continued,“i struggled more with Molly’s character in this, which to me doesn’t really make much sense, because of what she went through.
“I think it was because I struggle — I really hate self pity.
“I didn’t want to feel sorry for myself, so I wasn’t feeling sorry for Molly for ages.
“And then I was like, this isn’t right — I don’t feel sorry for her.
“But the more I went back and got into her head, and separated it for myself, it was much easier to do.
“But it was a fairly similar process when it came to edits and everything.”
Jenny drew on her own experiences being diagnosed with arthritis when writing her debut — and recalled her own journey to her diagnosis.
She said,“i was 23 and I was working in law at the time.
“My knees had started to swell, and it sort of went on for quite a long time, back and forth to doctors.
“But unlike Juliet’s situation, I don’t remember my diagnosis being a massive shock — I think maybe because my dad was a doctor, maybe arthritis had been agged up earlier than the actual diagnosis.
“I don’t remember it being a massive shock, but from then on it was sort of trying to get the right medications.
“And then when I had kids, there were huge ares after that.
“It’s just been back and forth — still — trying to get something that works.”
Jenny told how the response to Juliet, one of the protagonists at the centre of The Right Move, has been “incredible” so far.
She said,“i had done this event last summer, Penguin organised it in London — it was a YA event.
“All these teens came — there were other authors there, as well — and I had three teens come up to me and sort of share their diagnoses with me.
“It wasn’t all arthritis, there were other chronic illnesses and things like that.
“But it was just so lovely that these young people could come and be like,‘i really related to this, thank you’.
“That has been the most special thing, I think, about writing the book in the
rst place — having that feedback was amazing.”
The First Move was also highlighted on The Late Late Toy Show last year, something which Jenny said was a“lovely surprise”— and something she wasn’t expecting at all.
She said,“i was asleep! I can’t believe I didn’t watch it. I was going to stay up, but then I thought,‘i’m absolutely exhausted, I’m going to sleep’. I didn’t know at all.
“Usually you know these things, that it’s going to be on or whatever. I woke up to all these messages of people telling me, so I rewatched the whole thing — it was insane. I didn’t expect that at all. It was a lovely surprise.”
Jenny also told how becoming an author wasn’t something that she thought she would pursue initially — and becoming a mum led her to start writing.
She said,“most of my family and my extended family are doctors, so I kind of always assumed that that’s what I would do.
“But by the time I got to sixth year at school, I chose to do law for some unknown reason.
“After working in it for a couple of years, I just realised it was not for me after university.
“It wasn’t until I had kids — and until I had a second child, actually — that I started writing.
“It was out of sheer,‘i need some headspace and I’m gonna write these weird children’s stories and see what happens’. And I absolutely loved it — I was hooked from then.”
Jenny told how the draw to writing young adult books was due to the fact that there’s“something inherently special about it”.
She continued,“there’s no waiting around to get into the plot, you’re thrown straight into the story because teens aren’t going to wait around for something to start.
“There’s so much emotion in it, just that up and down. And I really remember what I felt like as a teen, and that helps as well.”
Besides The Boy Next Door and The First Move, Jenny has four unpublished novels — something which she said she would “de nitely” revisit.
She added,“there is one that was literally my rst idea for a book.
“It started as a middle-grade novel, and it will not leave me alone — I’m desperate to do something with it.
“I’m trying to learn screenwriting, as well, at the minute, so who knows? I might try and work it into something like that. But I don’t think anything is ever wasted. I’ll use bits of them all, I think.”
I HAD A SORE HEAD.. A VIRUS HAD ATTACKED MY BRAIN.”