Thursday, April 15, 2010

Book Feature: Alexandra, Gone by Anna McPartlin

Alexandra, Gone

Once, Jane Moore and Alexandra Walsh were inseparable, sharing secrets and stolen candy, plotting their futures together. But when Jane became pregnant at seventeen, they drifted slowly apart. Jane has spent the years since raising her son, now seventeen himself, on her own, running a gallery, managing her sister's art career, and looking after their volatile mother-all the while trying not to resent the limited choices life has given her.

Then a quirk of fate and a faulty elevator bring Jane into contact with Tom, Alexandra's husband, who has some shocking news. Alexandra disappeared from a south Dublin suburb months ago, and Tom has been searching fruitlessly for her. Jane offers to help, as do the elevator's other passengers-Jane's brilliant but self-absorbed sister; Elle, and Leslie Sheehan, a reclusive web designer whos ready to step back into the world again. And as Jane quickly realizes, Tom isn't the only one among them who's looking for something...or traveling toward unexpected revelations about love, life, and what it means to let go, in every sense.



About the Author:
Anna’s debut novel Pack Up The Moon was published in January 2006, it went on to be a best seller both here and abroad.

Since then Anna’s written three more novels, So What If I’m Broken being her latest work. She’s also written School Run, a TV comedy-drama for TV3 which was nominated for both an IFTA and a TV award. Anna’s books are published in Ireland, Germany, America, Russia, The UK and Australia. She’s currently working on her first film.

In the early nineties, Anna ran an alternative cabaret called Tales of the City in a run down bar on Capel Street. The show comprised of a Dutch torch singer, a folk rock band, an ancient alcoholic queen of monologues, and a waitress in drag … not to mention comedy. Anna was a stand up comedienne for four years and it is her experience writing sketches that ignited her passion for storytelling.

Friends and family are Anna’s inspiration. Given the amount of upheaval and tragedy Anna has experienced in her life from a very young age, it is no wonder friends and family are what she cherishes most and evidence of this is in all of her work. It tickles your funny bone, tugs at your heartstrings, and reminds you to never give up on love.

Anna’s lived many kinds of lives in this short lifetime her parents separated when she was five and her mother was diagnosed with MS when she was six. She lived with and cared for her Mum and her Gran until the age of twelve and was then fostered by her Aunt and Uncle who lived in Kenmare, Co. Kerry. At the age of 14, Anna was introduced to her half sister who had been living thirty five miles away from her. At 17, she lost her mother, and a few years later she lost a close friend to suicide, as well as her father to cancer, though she never really knew him. She nearly lost her own life when she was hit by a car aged 21. Surviving loss and being faced with death inspired Anna to write about the darker side of life but because she has been lucky enough to be surrounded by joyful people her work and life is brimming with hope and laughter.

Anna’s husband Donal is a drummer who has worked with Jack Lukeman and Junkster. He’s currently in an up and coming band called Torchlight. Anna’s been supporting and following her husband around the world for sixteen years and she looks forward to continuing doing so for the next 16 years.

Her most recent novel So What If I’m Broken is the story of four strangers who vow to find a missing person but first they must find themselves.

1 comment:

  1. Sounds like a great book--great write-up. Thanks for sharing!

    ReplyDelete