Oldcastle writer's new novel inspired by young protestors

Former Meath Chronicle writer, Bronagh Curran from Oldcastle, is publishing a new novel next month. 'The Good Activist' looks at the power of hero worship and the scars created by secrets and lies.

Published by Donegal-based Merdog books on 22nd April, it tells the story of an 18 year-old Cavan girl who finds a lot more than she bargained for when she moves to Dublin for college.

Bronagh is a daughter of Paula and the late Tommy Curran, former manager of Oldcastle Credit Union,and credits her mother for a lot of the inspiration for her writing.

A former pupil of Gilson National School and St Oliver's Post Primary School, Bronagh always loved books.

“I loved books and reading, but I never thought I could write one," she said. "But I had it in my head I could adapt books for film or television.”

For that reason she decided to do a media production course in college, fell in love with the journalism module and particularly enjoyed feature writing.

After college, Bronagh worked part time for the Meath Chronicle for a year, and among those she interviewed was Navan born actor, Pierce Brosnan.

She then went to work for the Irish News of the World where she spent six years.

“The culture changed there after a few years and I wanted to get out of journalism. I rented a house in Kildare and minded people's dogs for a year and then I moved from job to job for a few years.”

Back in 2011, Bronagh decided to start writing for young adults having noticed a gap in the market for that age group. Her first book, a young adult novel, 'The Path of Totality' (In Het Spoor Van de Eclips) was published in the Netherlands in 2016.

Bronagh then took some time out from writing and began working in administration for a dental practice and she is now training to be a dental nurse.

“So I now have a sensible reliable job so I don't have to worry about making money and I can write in my free time,”

The Good Activist is her debut adult novel and will be launched in Hodges ad Figgis in Dublin on 22nd April.

The hero in her new book is Maeve Daly, a product of her time, opinionated, impressionable and determined. But she is also a product of her upbringing, for half of her life she called her teenage mother her sister and never knew her place in the family, let alone the world. So when she finds like minded social and eco activists The Clan, and a mother figure in their enigmatic leader Ferdia Cusack, her fate is set on a path of destruction.

Bronagh was inspired to write the story while observing protesters at Government buildings.

She worked as an assistant to Senator Marie Louise O'Donnell and in 2019, she had a birds eye view of the Extinction Rebellion protestors as they gathered around Leinster House.

“Their passion was inspiring and infectious and I remember thinking, thank God for them. Thank God for the socially minded, eco conscious, selfless and courageous youth of today, the future is in safe hands. “But then I thought what might happen if all that unbridled enthusiasm for revolution was harnessed in the wrong direction, by the wrong hands. Could something with such obvious well meaning be corrupted by a negative force? And that was the kernel of the idea for The Good Activist.

“And when I thought deeper as to why Maeve would be so susceptible to this indoctrination, I felt the secret lay in the lies and deep-seeded misogyny of rural Ireland,” she says.

Bronagh will be holding readings in Antonia's Bookshop in Trim on 5th May, Oldcastle Library on 19th May and Academy Books in Drogheda on 30th April.