Steal & Wright: The Adnegveill: Maureen Farenden

For the first blog post of 2023, we have an interview with the author of Steal & Wright: The Adnegveill, Maureen Farenden.

We got the chance to speak with author Maureen Farenden about what life is like as an author and her recently released book, Steal & Wright: The Adnegveill.

1. What are three interesting factors about yourself?

1A:  I was born in Islington [to] Irish parents and went to school in Stepney where I was informed all the way through education that my future was to end up in a Typing Pool because that was the career for girls from my background.

2A:   I have always had a very enquiry mind and therefore never think about what I can’t do, but how sad I would feel if I didn’t give it a go no matter how difficult the task or challenge.

3A:  Through all the challenges and obstacles that I have faced in my life/career the one most important factor I have learnt is that there is No such thing as Failure.

Failure is Not trying. Life is Experiencing Life, so go for it and learn and learn...  because, sometimes, Failure teaches us far more about Ourselves, Life, Compassion and Love than Success ever can.

2. As a child, what did you want to do when you grew up?

People and stories have always fascinated me and therefore, I always wanted to work in jobs/careers that involved both.  So, through all my working life, I have aspired to work in jobs/careers that involved both, e.g., Librarian, Box Office Manager for Theatre, Volunteer/ Radio Presenter for Hospital Radio.

3. When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

When I was a small child I would go to the local Library to sit and listen to the stories read out to the local children by the Librarian and imagine those stories in Technicolor inside my head whilst thinking that, one day, maybe I can transform the imaginary stories constantly floating around inside my head into a book for others to read and listen to like I did.

4. Can you tell me about the book?

I love Detective Stories and have always wanted to invent a new Detective Duo who don’t always comply with the “Letter of the Law” but choose[s] Right over Wrong, which doesn’t always side with the Victim of the crime!

Lockdown also presented me with the perfect opportunity to pen the First Novel in a series of Novels introducing Steal & Wright:  Two Detectives polls apart in personality yet as one in their search for “True Justice”.

The ADNEGVEILLE also delves into how it feels to be a “Prisoner in your Own Home”, which many people have felt during lockdown and the key inspiration for my story. 

Maureen Farenden’s Book, Steal & Wright: The Adnegveill

5.  How long did it take you to write your first book?

Nearly a year. I knew the story inside my head before I put pen to paper but never thought that I could write it until I began when I couldn’t stop until I had finished.

6. What do you think makes a good story?  

The story can be about anything, but it must feel and read real to the reader.  Every fictional story must have a truth within it otherwise, the reader doesn’t believe in it or the characters. And if the reader cannot engage with the characters and their lives within the story, then no matter how cleverly written by the writer, the reader will always feel cheated.

7. What inspired you to write your book?

Talking to other people, family, friends etc, about their own experiences of Covid 19 Lockdown and comparing them to mine, e.g. Dealing with my husband’s operation, breaking my ankle just as he was recovering, and other family issues whilst moving house, and how all these issues inspired me to write a novel that delved into how it felt to be a ”Prisoner in your Own Home”, but also that there is light at the end of the tunnel if you search for it with love, friendship and determination.

8. What did you learn when writing the book?

That out of the darkness of Covid 19 Lockdown how writing can inspire an inner strength inside of each of us that we never knew existed.  The imagination can be a wonderful world to get lost in when the world outside appears so bleak.

9. What surprised you the most?

That no matter how bad my day was when I sat down to write, I always ended up feeling uplifted and, therefore, happy.  Imagination can take us anywhere and costs nothing.

10. What advice would you give to aspiring authors?

Go for it!! When I left school at sixteen and the Education Office handed me that piece of paper to take to the Typing Pool because I wasn’t worth their time to bother with... I tore it up and got an interview with the Local Library, where I never looked back.

Write that novel or book and see where it transports you to!

Steal & Wright: The Adnegveill

Maureen Farenden

£10.99

ISBN: 9781800164192

Order Today: https://pegasuspublishers.com/books/all/steal-_-wright_-the-adnegveill