New children’s books from Toome’ author
Fran O’Brien has raised over €600,000 for LauraLynn
Recently collecting another print order of her new books from Guardian Print, Toomevara-based author Fran O'Brien and her husband Arthur McGuinness are continuing their campaign of support for the LauraLynn Foundation.
They have now raised over €600,000 for the children's hospice through the sale of Fran's books at trade shows, fairs and markets around the country, and through her website. Fran began writing 15 years ago and the couple have been pleasantly surprised with the reaction to her catalogue, which includes novels, accounts of her aunt Queenie Hogan of Toomevara, and now three children's books.
“We never thought it when we started,” Arthur said of the amount of money the books have amassed for LauraLynn. “We thought we'd make €2,000 on our first book and that would be the end, and LauraLynn would get €2,000 and maybe we'd get our money back in terms of the cost. It now self-finances as we go from year to year.
“Maybe,” he encouraged, “somebody might see what we've done and get up and do what we've done.”
Fran started writing children's fiction for the first time during the pandemic. Last year saw the publication of her first ‘Stripy the Kitten’ book and she has since followed it up with two additions to the series. ‘Stripy on the Farm’ has a theme of bullying with a happy resolution, while ‘Stripy at the Circus’ sees the three-legged kitten engaged in an adventure yarn with lots of animals and fun.
“They're simple stories that are only for four or five-year-olds,” said Fran, who illustrated the books herself. “They involve colouring as well as reading - one page is the story and one page is the colouring part of it. Four and five-year-olds like doing that, colouring in, and even if they can't read it, somebody else can read it for them!”
Like before, all the proceeds from the sale of these books will go towards LauraLynn, the foundation established by Dublin couple Jane and Brendan McKenna following the death of their two daughters - Laura, at the age of just 4 after surgery to repair a heart defect, and her older sister Lynn, who died aged 15, less than two years later, having lost her battle against Leukaemia; she was diagnosed on the day of Laura’s surgery.
LauraLynn services include community-based paediatric palliative care, respite and end-of-life support; it is expanding its ‘LauraLynn At Home’ outreach programme in Munster to help carers take time out from looking after the children that need them.
Last May, RTÉ's Nationwide programme featured Fran and Arthur and the extraordinary success of their fundraising campaign. Parts of the feature were shot at the couple's Toomevara home - aunt Queenie's cottage - where they have become very much part of the local community and very mindful of the campaign to keep business local.
Fran is still writing adult fiction; her next, as yet untitled book has “a Spanish theme in it”. She hopes to have it published this autumn. All of her books can be purchased through the website www.franobrien.net, where plenty of further information is available.