I wanted to write something that was set during Covid that focused on the positives

I wanted to write something that was set during Covid that focused on the positives

3 April 2024

A BALLYHORNAN author has reflected on the success of her new novel ‘Night Swimmers’, which addresses the universal themes of grief, recovery, guilt and connection.

Roisin Maguire has described the reception as “fantastic”. Having been a successful short story writer over the years, including winning The Irish News Short Story Award 25 years ago and the John O’Connor award in 2018, Roisin said that the undertaking of a novel was something she had flirted with for years.

“I’m so happy that people have really identified with the novel,” she said. “I’ve had so many people say different things about the book – all of them good thankfully, but a lot of people have said they could identify with the characters and as a writer that’s the biggest compliment you can get.

“Connection and community is the most important thing for people,” Roisin added.

“We are social beings and we have endured a lot in recent years especially during the pandemic.

“A lot of people who I haven’t spoken to before have stopped me and talked about the novel. I can’t believe it’s reached as many people as it has and I’m so grateful that people have taken the time to read it.”

The 54 year-old was encouraged to write the book and capture the positivity of human kindness after her 17 year-old child became increasingly worried at the onset of the Covid pandemic.

“My youngest, like a lot of young people, internalised that the pandemic was going to go on forever,” Roisin explained.

“Covid figures were rising, people were asked to stay at home and follow the rules, then a year later it was revealed that the politicians had broken their own rules – it was a horrible time.

“I wanted to write something that was set during Covid that focused on the positives.

“While we were living in a time of great uncertainty, we seen so much 

connectivity and community through several beautiful acts of kindness.”

Night Swimmers features an eccentric heroine called Grace, who lives in the fictional village of Ballybrady, on the east coast of Northern Ireland.

The character fills her days with swimming, fishing, quilting and baiting visitors. One of the other characters is Evan, who comes to the village after the death of his infant daughter and his faltering marriage and career.

While taking an enforced holiday, the first lockdown to combat the Coronavirus comes into effect, leaving Evan stranded and having to fit amongst the locals.

When Grace saves Evan from drowning, and Evan’s troubled son Luca arrives to stay, all three are pulled together by currents that draw them to a reckons with their personal trauma and back into society.

“It was really Covid that encouraged me to go into a corner and engross myself in the novel,” Roisin said.

“I’d done my MA in Creative Writing and had written a novel as an assignment before, but it I didn’t seek to publish it.

“I had to discipline myself. We all had so much time so I knew I’d no excuse. I loved the experience.

“Short stories can be more demanding because you have to refine every detail and be so particular and selective about each word you and the nuance it possesses.

“With Night Swimmers I felt that once I had the first skeleton down I could let the characters unfold naturally. Some evenings you could write pages upon pages and other evenings you can just write a paragraph, but sometimes that paragraph can give you a second wind.

“It was important for me as well to stick to what I know. When you write fiction, you have to keep it grounded reality. That’s why I based the fictional village of Ballybrady on my beautiful Ballyhornan.

“As the novel evolved, I thought it was quite a nice microcosm to how the world is. We all like what we know and often fear change, but change can be good, it can teach you so much whilst also giving you a different insight into things in your past.”

Roisin has experienced numerous of changes in her life, some of which, she says, were met with trepidation, others embraced.

She has had several careers, working as a classroom assistant in one of Northern Ireland’s first integrated primary schools and at her family’s construction business. She also studied to become a midwife.

As well as writing, she is deeply passionate about hypnotherapy, which helps people who are suffering from depression and anxiety. 

“My advice to women is to relax,” Roisin explained. “I don’t mean that in its trivial sense. I mean relax about yourself. We spend so much time 

puzzling through everything and 

overworking our brain that we forget to give ourselves the credit we deserve.”

As well as promoting compassion and communication with her hypnotherapy, Roisin hopes that these two qualities are the biggest takeaways from Night Swimmers. 

“There is a human need to communicate and the novel is set during a time when communication was forbidden,” Roisin said.

Roisin plans to write more novels and short stories that are informed from her own experiences. Her next novel will focus on a woman who has rejected contemporary medicine.

Night Swimmers can be purchased via Amazon, Waterstones and Bookshop UK.