Eamon Somers
320 Pages
Unbound Digital (July 8, 2021)
Book Links:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/57826740-dolly-considine-s-hotel
Dolly Considine runs a late-night drinking establishment catering to the
needs of thirsty politicians and theatricals in Dublin's legendary drinking
area, the Catacombs.
Julian Ryder (aka Paddy Butler) is an eighteen-year-old aspiring writer in
need of shelter from his bullying older brother.
As the new live-in lounge assistant at Dolly Considine’s Hotel, Julian soon
embroils himself in the shebeen’s gossip – and the guests’ bedsheets – and
turns Dolly’s entourage into fodder for his literary ambitions. Reality
quickly becomes difficult to separate from fantasy…
Set against the run-up to the Pro-life Constitutional Amendment of
September 1983 and moving fluidly between the 1950s of Dolly’s youth and
Julian’s Summer of Unrequited Love, the hotel becomes a stage for farce and
tragedy. Between Julian’s fictions, Dolly’s Secrets, and narrow party
politics – and featuring a papier-mâché figure of Mother Ireland giving
birth and clashing sword-wielding dancers – this rich cocktail threatens to
blow them, and even Ireland itself, wide apart.
Guest Post
Do I write to be loved?
When I was very young, did I think anyone could
write stories? Maybe not, but I always thought that if I wanted to, then I
could. I mean how difficult could it be? Later of course I learned that I had a
lot to learn. In fairness to myself I thought I was more interested in writing
for myself than in entertaining readers. No one needs lessons in how to keep a
diary, they just do it. And writing stories was like writing someone else’s
diary, a writer would just need a bit of imagination. But I eventually found I
wasn’t satisfied writing just for myself, I wanted readers, and more
importantly wanted their approval.
In my mid-teens I developed a bit of a social
conscience in secondary school, and I particularly remember writing two essays
(we called them compositions at the time) for my English teacher. To the best
of my knowledge none of my teachers ever mentioned the word ‘research’ instead
we were supposed to write from our experience. And later, in creative writing
classes one of the regular instructions was ‘write about what you know’ which
of course does not preclude research. But in the absence of either a directive
to write about what I knew, or to do research, I discovered I liked research. For
the two school essays (one on the Irish Travelling Community, and on the other
regarding housing families in high rise blocks) I obtained copies of reports on
both subjects. The Traveller report based on Irish research (I think my local
library got it for me), and the other I sent away to Her Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) in the UK.
I have no idea what I wrote in those essays,
but whatever it was neither of them pleased my English teacher (we called him Sparky)
who gave them disappointing marks. No adult approval there.
Some years later I tried to impress my future father-in-law
by writing a fictional account of his grandparents moving from one rented
accommodation to another using a handcart to transport their chattels through
the streets of Dublin. His response was to suggest it lacked authenticity.
Fast
forward several years and under the influence of writers advocating what was
called ‘The New Journalism’ (represented by Tom Wolfe and Truman Capote, etc.),
I wrote a piece called Toner’s Chestnut for Irish music magazine Hot Press. One
essence of the new journalism was that the writer reporting on (say) a boxing
match, had to put himself into the ring with the boxers, or in my case up on
stage with my fingers pressing the keys on Niall Jordan’s saxophone. The editor
was not impressed.
At about the same time I started writing a
novel, I thought it would be the answer to the very confusing and unhappy time I
was having. And paradoxically, it was a very productive few months. I should
have been sorting out my life, but it was easier to distract myself with my
thinly disguised autographical dribblings. Perhaps I hoped to magically get a
novel accepted, published, and up on bookshop shelves within a few weeks. Which
might have addressed my financial difficulties at least, if not my more serious
relationship and sexuality issues. Reality eventually kicked in.
Nowadays, I realise I probably write to figure out
who I am. And I suspect I am not alone
in this. Other writers are figuring out things too. But I also want to
entertain my readers, even as I try to confuse them. Isn’t that what Agatha
Christie did? In her engaging entertaining mystery stories, she doesn’t want
her readers to figure out the ending until she’s ready. Christie plays with her
readers, cooking up red herrings and laying out attractive footpaths for them
to follow which turn out to be cul-de-sacs.
In Dolly Considine’s Hotel I wanted to play a
different sort of game with my readers. I wanted them to feel their reading task
should make them feel that in order to cross the log-jammed river separating
them from their love, they would have to step from log to log, having to watch
where they placed their feet, being careful not to slip or cause the log to roll
and twist; never knowing if the next log will dip just enough to allow the
crocodile lurking beneath the horizontal forest to rise up and take their leg.
I was reading an extract from Dolly Considine’s
Hotel at an open mic event recently, and I got to a section that I think of as
being deadly serious, I had on my ‘poignant voice’, but a group of women sitting
together and sipping red wine, laughed. Was I surprised? No, almost everyone who
reads Dolly remarks on the humour, even in the darkest moments.
Writing is fun, but also hard work, but it has helped
me to learn a bit more about myself and the limits of my ability to change the
world. But I keep trying, using the things I’ve learnt, including that people
seem to pay more attention to humorous discussions than to serious lectures.
One close friend has suggested I write as a way
of avoiding people, but I think writing is my way of meeting people. However, since
the publication of Dolly Considine’s Hotel (my first novel) last year, I seem
more willing to go out and be social. It is as if I am entitled to meet people
and hang out, now that I’ve got a rhythm going with my writing obligations; I deserve
time off for good behaviour, not to mention to listen out for Dolly’s readers’
side of the discussions I’m having with the world. Maybe I’ll go to the pub
now. See ya.
Author Bio:
Eamon Somers grew up above the small corner shop run by his parents in
Dublin’s inner city. After brief careers as a shop assistant, trainee
motorcycle mechanic, courier, office worker, lounge boy, community
facilitator, double glazing installer he moved to London. He worked for two
years in Haringey Council’s Lesbian and Gay Unit, drawing on his several
years’ experience of community development work with the National Gay
Federation in Dublin. Redundancy from Haringey caused him to stumble into
the social housing development career he enjoyed for the following
thirty-two years.
From his early writing classes in the People’s College in 1970s Dublin, his
studies at Birkbeck College London, summer schools at the Irish Writers’
Centre, to more recent zooming sessions with poet Diana Goetsch (via
Paragraph NY), Eamon’s lifelong commitment to learning the art of creative
writing, is obvious His short stories have been published in various
magazines including Tees Valley Writer, Automatic Pilot, Chroma, The Journal
of Truth and Consequences (which nominated his Fear of Landing for a
Pushcart Prize), also in Quare Fellas, a collection of LGBT+ fiction
published in Ireland. He is currently working on revisions to his novel A
Very Foolish Dream, - Highly Commended in the 2019 Novel Fair sponsored by
the Irish Writers’ Centre in Dublin. Dolly Considine’s Hotel is Eamon's
debut novel.
Eamon is the happy father of three children. He and his Civil Partner Tomás
are proud to be called Papa and Papi by their two lovely grandchildren. They
increasingly divide their time between London, Dublin, and other parts of
Ireland.
Author Links:
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/6879418.Eamon_Somers
Video of author reading 2 short extracts from the book:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpJAlPeH5Cs
FREE short story sign up for Eamon Somers newsletter:
https://www.eamonsomers.com/contact
Giveaway:
https://woorise.com/travellingpages/dolly-considines-hotel
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