What is your most memorable experience?
Riding on a camel up Mount Sinai in the middle of the night to watch the dawn rise; seeing Macchu Piccu for the first time after four days of trekking The Inca Trail; dancing in the jungle with women from one of the last Amazonian tribes following an Ayahuasca ceremony; crawling into Loughcrew burial mound and seeing the prehistoric carvings I had studied for years; discovering a stained glass window of Sapientia (Wisdom) holding a serpent, the ancient pagan symbol of wisdom which inspired the title of The Serpent’s Tale.
What is your most humbling experience?
Watching three street children dressed in rags in Iquitos, with no family, shelter or food, laughing with joy as they danced in the rain.
What is your most challenging experience?
Having to resuscitate my son several times a day. Having to inflict painful procedures on my daughter as I nursed her though ten operations. Recovering from addiction.
What have you learnt from life’s challenges?
Never give up, however dark it gets. Surrender to the darkness and trust that, when the time is right, you will come back into the light of wellbeing and be able to draw something positive from the painful experience. Be kind to yourself. Release any anger, guilt, shame or fear that may be blocking you and focus your energies on manifesting your dreams.
What do you find rewarding about your work?
Helping people to heal and move forward in their lives, especially those struggling with mental health difficulties, who so often have been victims of severe abuse. I love helping them to see how special they are and to recognise the gifts that they bring to society.
Who would be the three people, dead or alive, you would like to invite for dinner?
Paolo Coelho, whose books I love and whose humility and philosophy of life I found captivating when I saw him interviewed at The London Book Fair; Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues and founder of V-Day, a global activist movement to stop violence against women and girls; Carl Jung, whose psychoanalytic theories regarding mythology, archetypes and the divine feminine are fundamental to my personal philosophy and work.
What do you feel passionate about?
Campaigning on behalf of women who are being subjected to any form of abuse, violence or oppression. Raising awareness around mental health issues and challenging the stigma associated with them.
Did you always want to be a writer?
Ever since I could hold a pencil. I still have all the scribbled pages of books I wrote as a child. My grandmother had the Irish flair for entertaining the pub’s occupants with her storytelling and songs, and my grandfather was a passionate connoisseur of the complete works of Charles Dickens. He taught me that a good story should always have a murder, mystery, love story and mistaken identity, all of which feature in the plot of The Serpent’s Tale.
How did you write The Serpent’s Tale?
I did months of historical and mythological research then used this to stimulate ideas for the plot, as well as creating detailed biographies of all the characters. I wrote several drafts over a nine year period as each new draft reflected the transformation in my own philosophical development. I had to be very disciplined as I could only write when my children were at school, so I wrote at a rate of 1000 words an hour, followed by endless edits and rewrites.
Do you consider yourself a feminist?
Yes, very much so. There is a trend at the moment to declare that feminism is an outdated concept, and yet a billion women worldwide will be beaten, abused or raped during their lifetime. I agree that the ultimate goal for society is to create balance between the sexes, but in order for this to happen, men and women still need to direct their combined energies into challenging the global subordination of women.
What is your ultimate ambition?
For The Serpent’s Tale to be made into a film, bringing widespread attention to the social issues it explores regarding women’s rights abuses and thereby making a small contribution to the global movement to liberate and empower the oppressed women of this world.
