By Michelle Crean

The pandemic may have delayed it from hitting the bookshelves sooner - but local author Breda Joy's latest work has now hit the bookshops.

'Under a Skellig Sky' is a combination of Love Island and Fawlty Towers together in this new romantic novel with a bite!

The Skellig islands off the coast of Kerry are the backdrop to the page turner that doles out quick fire laughs as well as confronting issues such as rural crime and depopulation.

Nomadic Carol O’Connell’s return to Glenosheen overlooking the famed craggy Skelligs turns into one more in a series of half-baked decisions that pass for her life.

An experiment with Airbnb in her mother’s old farm guesthouse on the ‘Wet Atlantic Way’, a disastrous re-union with an ex and the rescue of a troubled friend set her tumbling through the year.

Through the sultry heat wave of 2018, she searches for peace to recover from a broken relationship but her sleepy valley homeplace has woken up to Star Wars fever and mass tourism.

But a trip to the stunning Skellig Michael with a mystery guest called Oliver turns the tide in the love stakes for Carol.

“I wrote 'Under a Skellig Sky' during the heat wave of 2018 and set it in that summer, drawing directly from the weather conditions as I wrote,” Breda, who is an award winning author and local journalist said.

“As part of my research, I took a boat trip to the Skellig on a day when the sea was like a billiard table and the sky was a sapphire blue. I had been on the island previously, but it was my first time visiting when the puffins were in residence, and it was wonderful to see them. That idyllic day informed my descriptions of the island and sets the background to the visit of my two main characters there.

“When I planned the novel, I set out to write a romantic comedy to provide readers with an escape chute to an imaginary world – similar to the escapism of Love Island,” she said. “I wanted to write a kind of Kerry-based ‘Fawlty Towers’. Humour is very much at the heart of both my fiction and journalism. When I want to get a serious message across, humour is my lure to reel the reader in.

"Having my novels published is a dream-come-true," Breda said. "It’s such a privilege to be included among the ranks of published Irish writers. Chief among the essential advice I’d give an aspiring writer is not to be isolationist as I have been with the crucial exception of joining a small writing group in Killarney 15 years ago. The support and the constructive criticism of the members advanced me hugely on my writing journey."

‘Under a Skellig Sky' was first launched as an eBook on Amazon during the pandemic but is now available in Eason and O'Connor's Newsagent in Killarney as well as all good book shops.

Breda's previous non-fiction books include 'Hidden Kerry, The Keys to the Kingdom' and 'The Wit & Wisdom of Kerry' with Mercier Press Cork. She published 'Brian Crowley, Against the Odds', a Biography with Brandon Press in 1996. Her second novel was 'Eat the Moon' and she is currently researching her third.