Seven novels, one county

Ballynacargy author Patricia Baynes launches ‘Westmeath Chronicles’ series of novels

Eilís Ryan

For years, Westmeath has happily claimed its place as a county of performers, musicians and entertainers, but perhaps it is time to add another accolade to the list: a county of writers.

Because alongside the famous literary names associated with Westmeath – James Joyce, Oliver Goldsmith and JP Donleavy – a new generation of novelists and authors has emerged from the county in recent years, giving Westmeath an increasingly strong claim to being a home of great Irish writing.

The latest of these is Patricia Baynes, who not alone lives for much of the year in Ballynacargy, but who has just launched a series of novels that are all set in Westmeath.

Originally from Athlone, Patricia and her husband Michael were, for many years, operators of the Hazel Gallery in Ballynacargy, but her focus these days is on the written word, and her love for rural Ireland, and Westmeath in particular, shines through.

“It was in Ballynacargy that I started to write,” says Patricia, who has retired from her work as a secondary school teacher of English, geography and history.

“I’ve always loved the midlands and the place is full of stories – all the myths and legends; the Celts, the Normans; all the great old houses.”

The result is the launch of seven novels, which she calls ‘The Westmeath Chronicles’, and which have just gone live on Amazon, available both in print and Kindle versions.

“I was able to draw on whatever I knew – and when I write, I don’t write ‘misery literature’; I don’t write about major social problems. They are stories of the imagination, but I draw on the landscape of Westmeath; I draw on the Celtic elements that are there – Uisneach and the old Celtic myths associated with that; the Norman settlement of Kilbixy; The Salmon Road by the canal,” says Patricia.

The books are all standalone novels; they don’t feature recurring characters; nor are they autobiographical – but naturally, Patricia’s own experiences have influenced what she has written about and many of the descriptions that feature.

“For example, there’s one called The Tour. I belong to the Midland Secondary School Teachers Retirement Association, and we went on a tour of the cities of Andalusia. And so, therefore, I took literally the tour we went on, and I invented a story around it, and coloured it with the memories I have of the places we visited at the time,” says Patricia.

“It’s a story of older people who are disregarded and invisible mostly, but they overcome difficulties and solve a criminal conspiracy and succeed at the end.”

In other books, readers will have no trouble recognising the landscapes because there is action in – or at least reference to – local towns, villages and landmarks.

The novels vary from themes of mystery, to Irish history, romance and the supernatural.

From protecting a treasure passed down the years from the Spanish Armada, to the aftermath of the Civil war and the War of Independence on the landowners of the county, to the rescue of a small immigrant boy, all life is there.

And, Patricia reveals, she is not finished with the Westmeath Chronicles yet: “I am finishing one last one, which actually was the one I started with, but I put it on the backburner because it was a three-in-one. And I’m working on it as one larger one now.”

• To see the full range of works in The Westmeath Chronicles, just search for ‘Patricia Baynes’ on Amazon.