Finding Lauren by Felicity McCall

[fmcc]

Regina Monteith must ensure two things before she surrenders to cancer in her eightieth year-that the fortune she has quietly amassed is passed on as she wishes, and that she takes the secret which could threaten this to her grave.
Across Ireland, her estranged niece, Cordelia Harcourt, stumbles on evidence that Regina's policeman son William fathered a daughter during a clandestine affair and was involved n the controversial killing which overshadows her own life.
A conspiracy of blackmail, corruption and family intrigue is about to be exposed as Cordelia sets about-Finding Lauren.
Finding Lauren has been optioned for development as a feature film.
Published by Guildhall Press www.ghpress.com

[claire]

Hi Felicity,welcome to the site! It sounds like an intriguing book! Good luck with it

[Mary]

Welcome Felicity! I had posted the details on the general board also....very best of luck with it

[fmcc]

Thanks- looking forward to tonight and thanks to Mary for exchanging publicity ideas and contacts- cross-border co-operation at its best!

[fmcc]

Review from Verbal magazine, November 07

Finding Lauren is Derry-based writer Felicity McCall’s second novel for Guildhall Press. Her first, Reckoning (2006) was reviewed in Verbal as a compulsive page-turner and Finding Lauren, too, immediately engages the reader with the strong characterisation and keen ear for dialogue one would expect from a writer with awards for screenplay and scriptwriting.
Finding Lauren is set in 2005 but the action is played out against the violent backdrop of the Northern Ireland of the 1970s and 80s. It opens in County Antrim in the home of the central character, seventy nine-year old widow Regina Monteith, who has long since buried her adored only son, William. We meet her as she is prepares to endure the eightieth birthday celebrations planned by her neighbour and home help, Betty. Regina must ensure two things before she surrenders to the cancer which is slowly killing her- that the surprising fortune she has amassed over the years is passed on according to her wishes, and that the family secret, which could threaten this- the existence of William’s illegitimate daughter- goes with her to the grave.
Across the county, her estranged brother’s daughter, Cordelia Harcourt, begins the task of sorting out her dead parents’ papers, and stumbles upon confirmation that William had fathered a child to a singer, more than thirty years ago, when he was starting his career in the RUC. The existence of the child, or her mother, had never been acknowledged. Driven by an inherited sense of righting a perceived injustice, Cordelia takes an emotionally painful journey through her own past and enlists the help of an old college friend of the lover who irrevocably changed her own life. The friend, David, himself a survivor of loss and violence, is now working as a provincial journalist in the area where her search is concentrated.
Aware of what Cordelia is doing, and with time running out for them all, Regina sets about further rewriting the past with the help of Betty who is now as dependent on alcohol and her married policeman lover as she once was desperate for the affection of a man like William. Slowly, Betty realises this could be a blackmail opportunity to change her life- if only she can be clever enough to play a double game, by convincing Regina that correspondence she has instigated is the work of Cordelia.
Told partly in flashbacks to the late 1960s,the search for Lauren takes them all through the archives of some of the bloodiest and most controversial days in the history of the north. It will prove a journey in which all the participants learn more about themselves than they do about their quarry. When they eventually track down Lauren and establish her parentage, they find that the idealistic, ill-fated lovers of Cordelia’s imagination must be supplanted by a relationship which is a metaphor for all that was brutal, shameful and needlessly lost in a troubled era of Ireland’s social history.
Felicity McCall is the author of a third Guildhall Press publication, Agnes, a short illustrated history of the Irish nursing pioneer Agnes Jones, which accompanies the documentary - drama of the same name. She has contributed to the anthologies Eve and Wonderful World of Worders. She is currently developing a screenplay with Brassneck Productions, supported by NI Screen, and Finding Lauren has also been optioned for development as a screenplay.

[claire]

I have to get this, it sounds fantastic

[Mary]

You're so welcome, Felicity, and very best of luck with all of your work!
You sure are a busy lady.

[susanmay]

Best of luck with 'Finding Lauren', Felicity. It sounds brilliant. Look forward to reading it.

[beetiefan]

Good luck with "Finding Lauren" Felicity!! Sounds like a very addictive read - loads of twists and sub-plots which I love.

Cora

[claire]

Hope you have a great birthday today!

[claireallan]

Link to article I wrote on Felicity for my day job - you can all see how versatile the woman is!

www.derryjournal.com/features/Finding-Felicity.3440959.jp

[fmcc]

Thanks everyone for your responses;I was hosting a local history event with US students last week and a few copies went home with them, so you never know....

[fmcc]

Thanks everyone for your responses;I was hosting a local history event with US students last week and a few copies went home with them, so you never know....