John Boyne launches new book by ‘great writer and storyteller’

Described by editor Lily Cooper as “one of the most powerful emotional stories”, Anne Griffin’s The Island of Longing was launched in Eason Mullingar by author John Boyne on Wednesday last, to a large crowd of well-wishers and friends, and those eager to get their hands on a copy for the author to sign.

“Every so often a writer comes along out of nowhere and they publish their first book and it reaches a big audience, readers come to it, critics come to it, and they set the foundation for an amazing career ahead that is just going to take the world by storm,” said John of Anne’s success to date.

The pair, he said, had grown up in the book trade together, and met first in 1996 in Waterstones and had been firm friends ever since.

“When Anne’s first book, When All Is Said, came out in 2019, it was an immediate success, in the very first week, it was number one bestseller… it launched this fantastic career [for Anne] as a great writer and a great storyteller,” said John, who is the bestselling author of Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, The Absolutist and All The Broken Places.

“Two years later,” he added, “Listening Still came out, which was another bestseller, and Graham Norton called it ‘a wonderful tale of love, death, and everything in between’. And now, another two years later we have Anne’s third book, The Island of Longing, and this book, I think, is Anne’s most personal in many ways because it… captures what is probably the biggest fear that any parent could feel, which is the inexplicable disappearance of a child.

“Anne has developed extraordinary confidence as a writer, and it shows in this book, which displays a great gift for language, and the great gift of nature and nurture in the landscape that she draws, and the family that she writes about,” said John, who finished by saying: “I’m proud to be here to launch it, but more importantly I’m proud to call you my friend.”

“A little bit emotional,” Anne Griffin then addressed the attentive audience, thanking the staff at Eason and, indeed, “the booksellers of Ireland”, saying that as a bookseller once herself, “I know the love of bookselling, I know the love of storytelling, so I appreciate what you do every day.”

Thanking those in attendance, the author added that it was wonderful to see “all these gorgeous smiling faces in the room, neighbours, friends… and even my singing teacher”, and speaking from the heart, she addressed her family, husband James and son Adam: “You are my rock, and I wouldn’t be able to write what I feel without you, because the love that I feel in this life is for you two – the arguments that we have, all of that stuff is within the pages of this book and just thank you for always letting me be me.”

The Island of Longing, Anne said, was written “with the missing children of Ireland in mind”.

“I think of Philip Kearns and Deirdre Jacob in particular. The reason I think of those two people is that I was struck so very much by how close to safety they really were,” she said. “Deirdre Jacob’s bag was found right outside her front gate, Philip Kearns was on the way to school, so they were in the safest place they could be, their home, and yet they disappeared.

“So this is the story of how a family, and in particular a mother, deals with that. Rosie has been fighting for eight years to find her daughter Saoirse, because she believes she’s very much alive. It’s a story of survival, of hope, and the power of community and laughter when such horrific things happen.”

• The Island of Longing by Anne Griffin is available now at Eason Mullingar.