Page Turners: ‘City Girls Forever’ author Patricia Scanlan

The spines of Dublin author Patricia Scanlan’s best-selling novels (of which there are many) line the bookshelves of houses all around Ireland and across the globe. Her work is beloved by many for its warmth, relatability and signature humour.

And now, longtime fans will be ecstatic to hear that the City Girls are back. And as city girl, Devlin Delaney’s iconic gym and spa prepares to mark a big anniversary, Devlin and her best friends Caroline and Maggie are looking forward to a fabulous party where they can all put their problems behind them and celebrate.

Devlin’s past has returned to haunt her, with a shocking revelation. But she’s strong and her beloved Luke has her back. Caroline is facing up to issues she’s long suppressed, with the help of a man who’s becoming more than a friend. Will happiness finally be hers?

Maggie’s family is driving her mad. Her ex, Terry, and their daughter don’t get on, and she’s made an alarming discovery about her elderly mother’s financial affairs. She wants to run far away. Sparks are going to fly, and some people are going to get a lot more than they bargained for!

Once a city girl, a city girl forever. Nothing will stop their celebration… or will it?

Did you always want to be a writer? Tell us about your journey to becoming a published author.

I wanted to be a teacher, but was a dunce at maths. I had read my first Mills & Boon when I was about twelve. My auntie Peg worked in an Eason bookstall on the Pier in Rosslare Harbour and my big treat on my holidays was being allowed to go to work with her for the last ferry boat sailing at night. I sneaked a look at a magazine and began to read a serialised love story but missed the final chapter because I had to go back to Dublin at the end of the holidays. I was hooked.

I started working in Dublin City Libraries in the 70s and didn’t I find the book I’d been reading in my aunt’s bookstall?! I still remember the title; Sullivan’s Reef. My first two attempts at novel writing were Mills & Boon romances. They introduced me to the joy of writing but I didn’t get published – I kept veering off the formula.

What inspired you to start writing?

I eventually got into writing because my creative side was bursting to be released, and I needed a new car – the one I had was covered in rust – and I couldn’t afford to buy another one. I didn’t get far on the advance of £150 for City Girl! Also, I suffered from endometriosis. I didn’t know what it was at the time, and I had a horrendous two decades until I was finally diagnosed but writing took me out of the misery of it.

I know that many, many young women out there are now suffering as I did. I know this horrible disease affects every part of everyday life. I know how reclusive you can become because you feel so ill and exhausted. I know how difficult it is to keep up a façade of ‘normality’ when you feel far from normal. I tell women to persevere and not be fobbed off, and to ask for endometriosis to be considered as a reason for their symptoms and for the tests to be done for them.

Because of it, I became a writer. It gave me lots of material. One of my short stories was about a gynaecologist who goes, at his new girlfriend’s behest, to have his body hair waxed! He doesn’t realise that the beauty therapist is a former patient he has failed to diagnose with endometriosis. Revenge is a dish best served cold! The story is titled A Low Threshold of Pain!

Tell us about your new book, City Girls Forever. Where did the idea come from?

My new book, City Girls Forever is a continuation of City Girl, City Woman and City Lives. My characters Devlin, Caroline and Maggie are now in their mid-life prime, facing many of the problems we all face at their age. Blended family problems, ageing parents, sibling rows, regrets, past traumas resurfacing, but also the enduring gift of friendship that softens every difficulty and brings fun and comfort.

I wanted to see what had happened to the women I had introduced to readers 35 years ago. I’d often been asked by my readers to write about them again. Real life isn’t easy and having readers identify with the highs and lows of your characters is the goal of every writer.

What do you hope this book instils in the reader?

Enjoyment! As a writer, it is utterly important to me that my readers are transported from their own world to the one I am writing about so they can forget for a while the stresses they are enduring in their own lives.

What did you learn when writing this book?

That I’m getting older, haha! I can’t spend hours at the computer like I used to.

Tell us about your writing process

I don’t like starting a novel. It feels like being at a wedding you don’t want to be at, sitting at a table with people you don’t know, or want to know. As time passes you start getting to know your companions. They become interesting to you and by the end of the night, you’ve got to like them so much you don’t want to say goodbye. So I start writing in short bursts and build up to seven or eight hours on the computer because my novel has, by then, taken over and it’s driving me, rather than the other way around. I love that feeling.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

Inspiration is everywhere. All the universal experiences we go through. Births, deaths, marriages, and everything in between. Life and all it throws at us fills the well of creativity. Waste nothing is great advice for a writer.