For historical fiction, a huge part of my work is research. Luckily, it’s a part I absolutely love.
In my last book The Lake House at Lenashee it has one character who is this amazing cook in a big house in the sixties in Ireland who begins to cook some amazing French dishes inspired by a passing French chef. I spent so much time looking up recipes and menus during the research for this character and trailing through cookbooks from that era. I knew that the residents of the house were familiar with fine cuisine. Especially French cuisine as a very well renowned French restaurant was in Dublin at the time called Jammet Restaurant and celebrities from Jackie Kennedy, John Lennon, James Cagney, Rita Hayworth, Edith Piaf and Michael Collins ate there over the years before it closed in 1967. It was famous all over the world.
Originally on Saint Andrews Street it moved to Nassau Street in 1926. it was where the elite ate and dined on oysters and champagne. In the 1960s some aspects of Ireland remained untouched and was very much under the influence of the Catholic Church and the state but there were certain parts of society that had begun to become very influenced by new cultures, new music and new food. I like to try to imagine an evening in Jammet Restaurant. You would never know who could be there!
My latest novel The Lake House at Lenashee is in book shops in Ireland and online.