Killarney woman’s memoirs will aid Berkely victim

A HEARTFELT book - penned by a cousin of Aoife Beary a survivor of the tragic Berkeley collapse - was launched at the Grand Hotel’s Liquid Lounge on Saturday evening.

Kathryn Crowley, originally from Main Street in Killarney, is the writer behind ‘Room for One More,’ and the Dublin-based school principal explained the book’s intriguing format:

“The stories come in pairs you could say. The book contains various memoirs from my life growing up in Killarney town, and each of these memories is accompanied by a related short fictional piece.”

All profits garnered by the book, Kathryn’s second collection, are to go to the Aoife Beary Fund to assist with the costs of her recovery from the tragic balcony collapse in 2015.

Aoife was severely injured in California; she required open heart surgery and suffered a traumatic brain injury, while also sustaining several other injuries.

Aoife is from Blackrock in Dublin, and has strong links to Kerry. Her father Mike is from Listowel, and three of her grandparents also hail from the county.

Kathryn was full of praise for the young woman, describing her as “one of the bravest and most determined young people I have the privilege to know.”

“I hope any profits raised from the sale of my collection of stories will help defray the significant costs of Aoife’s journey to recovery.”

“She has ambitions of returning to college, and is currently participating in a therapeutic programme in Oxfordshire as she pursues that goal. I hope ‘Room for One More’ will help make her future brighter in some small way.”

Kathryn read two memoirs at the launch as well as fictional story ‘Mother of the Groom’, and she was delighted with the reception they received.

The Killarney woman began writing ten years ago, and the pieces included in ‘Room for One More’ spring from different points of her journey as a writer.

“Many of these stories were written some years ago but hadn’t been published until now,” she said. “You could say the book has been ten years in the making.”

“But once the publisher accepted the final collection it only took nine months or so to get this show on the road.

“It was an experience I enjoyed and I hope my readers get similar enjoyment from the end result,” she added.

The book is available in paperback or ebook from publishers emuink.ie, as well as Amazon.com.

It’s also for sale in Killarney at Sheahan’s Pharmacy on Main Street and O’Connor’s Newsagent on Beech Road.

(Above) Kathryn Crowley launching her book Room for One More with her father Donie, sister Aileen, brothers Paul and Liam Sheahan at the Liquid Lounge in The Grand Hotel on Saturday.

(Left) Kathryn with husband Sean, son Eoin and father Donie at the book launch.