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Today we welcome Shannon O'Gorman to The Writer's Life e-Magazine! Shannon is the author of the mystery, Rose Hawthorne: The Irish Wanders. This interview is part of her Rose Hawthorne Blog Tour by Pump Up Your Book. Enjoy!

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Shannon O’Gorman is originally from Winnipeg, Canada and has been living in San Jose, California for the past 10 years enjoying the sunshine. She completed a BA in English at the University of Manitoba, with a specialization in Creative Writing. After university, the travel bug bit her hard and she spent the next 10 years traveling the world and supporting herself with odd jobs ( lots of fruit picking, waitressing, temp. work and ESL teaching). She spent many years in London, a few years in Israel on a moshav, and several years in Hong Kong. And then she found herself in Japan, where she married, had a daughter and ran an English school with her husband for 10 years. Throughout this time she kept diaries and wrote many short stories, some of which were published in small ex-pat magazines. Eventually, she returned to Canada and taught international students at U of Winnipeg, and newcomers to Canada at a technical college and was a teacher trainer for new ESL teachers. One day her husband said, “Guess what I got a job in California…” and not long after they packed up the car and drove south. She taught ESL again in the USA, and one day decided to walk the Camino de Santiago a 500 mile walk across France to Spain and wrote a book about it, The Camino de Santiago: One Wanderful Walk, and found her love for writing again. She also completed a book of short stories about her travels, Some Wanderful Times and started a book series featuring the character of Rose Hawthorne. The first book of the series is Seven Wanders: The Ancient Wanders. Last year she retired from teaching, and is enjoying writing every day with her dog at her feet.

Her latest book is the mystery, Rose Hawthorne: The Irish Wanders.

You can visit Shannon at Facebook and Instagram.

TWL: Welcome to The Writer's Life! How did you come up with the idea to write your book?

Shannon: My husband is Irish, so I’ve had the chance to travel to Ireland a few times. On a recent trip we went to the archeological site of Newgrange and what I saw there has really stayed with me. It is as old as the pyramids in Egypt, and it is thought to have been used as a place of worship but a lot of mystery surrounds it. People travel there to see the winter solstice, but because of the popularity only a few are chosen by lottery to be inside.

TWL: Can you give us a short excerpt?

Shannon: When Rose Hawthorne went up the creaky steps to her house, she found the front door unlocked. There was also a peculiar odor. Was that Old Spice? Her ex-husband had used it rather excessively, and the smell practically made her gag now. Was he here? How was that possible? He was supposed to be in Vancouver.

She gently pushed the door open and gasped when she saw the back of a heavily tattooed head creeping slowly down her front hall.

Who was that? And why was he carrying her fireplace poker?

She watched him stop and enter her den and heard her laptop chiming as it powered up. Then she heard the sound of drawers being opened and slammed shut and books thudding onto the floor. He was looking for something, and Rose had a pretty good idea what it was.

Not knowing what else to do, she carefully pulled the door back toward her, almost shutting it, and let it sit a few inches between open and closed. Her heart thumped wildly as she considered her best course of action.

TWL: What part of the book was the most fun to write?

Shannon: I really enjoyed writing the banter between my older protagonist and her granddaughter.

TWL: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

Shannon: I was sad when I finished writing it. It made me want to return to Ireland.

TWL: What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

Shannon: I’m working on a book called Lost in Laos, which will go into more detail about Rose and her daughter Holly.

TWL: Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

Shannon: A grandmother and granddaughter can make a pretty good team

TWL: Do you have any final words?

Shannon: I hope that my readers enjoy these strong female characters, and perhaps will be enticed to visit the magical country of Ireland. There is a lot to discover there.

Title: Rose Hawthorne: The Irish Wanders
Author: Shannon O’Gorman
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 200
Genre: Mystery

Book Blurb

Rose Hawthorne: The Irish Wanders follows Rose, a celebrity author in her early seventies, who dislikes the limelight but does like Hermes scarfs, round violet sunglasses, and old colonial hotels. One day, she receives a letter asking her to visit Newgrange, Ireland and discover something that has been hidden there for a thousand years.

She asks her granddaughter Samantha to accompany her, but she hadn’t expected her to continually post photos of their progress on her Instagram account. An encounter with an old love and an unexpected discovery leads Rose deeper into the past, where she finds she must make a hard decision about her future.

Book Information

Release Date: March 16, 2022

Publisher: Independent

Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-1736801079; 200 pages; $10.99; Free on Kindle Unlimited

Amazon: https://amzn.to/39a7pub