The Irish Goodbye
By Heather Aimee O’Neill
(Henry Holt and Company)
Interview by Diane Slocum
It’s Thanksgiving and the three Ryan sisters – Cait, Alice and Maggie – are coming home to be together for the first time in many years. It’s been twenty years since a tragedy with their brother, Topher’s, boat, linked to more sorrows that followed, tore into the family’s fabric and left each member damaged in their own way. Cait has just left her lucrative job and Dutch former husband in London. Alice hopes to begin a new career when she finds out this might not be possible.in her Catholic family. Maggie is bringing home the woman she loves to meet the family for the first time. From their father’s obsession with a racoon in the garbage to Cait inviting a high school crush from the other family to dinner, each person contributes to the chaos and confused, hurt and misunderstood emotions of their days together. Each hiding something from the others. But can they ever be a family again unless they dare to share their secrets?
AUTHORLINK: What was your first thought about this story and what did the Jed Foundation have to do with it?
O’NEILL: I wanted to write about a family struggling with a loss that shakes everything they think they know about themselves. A few months into the writing, I attended an event for The JED Foundation, an organization that provides resources for suicide prevention to college students. I know people who have died by suicide and hearing the stories at this event moved me deeply. I realized that this would be the source of loss for the Ryan family.
AUTHORLINK: How did you work with this to develop the rest of your story?
O’NEILL: I think losing someone to suicide inevitably adds a unique layer of sorrow that complicates the grieving process. I wanted to show how this loss affects each sister individually but also their dynamic as a group. Like most families, they have their defined roles based on personality and birth order, but the loss of their brother reinforces those roles in unhealthy ways. The story follows as they learn how to liberate themselves and each other from those patterns and constraints.
AUTHORLINK: I saw the reference to the Irish goodbye in the story. How did you decide to use that as the title for your book?
O’NEILL: The title comes from a conversation between the youngest sister, Maggie, and her nephew, who misinterprets what an Irish Goodbye is. It’s a moment in the story where the narrative looks toward the future and the next generation, which I thought reflected the journey the Ryan sisters are trying to make. It also blends heartache and humor—like the book itself, I hope—and I wanted that to be represented in the title.
AUTHORLINK: How did you develop the distinctive characteristics of the sisters and also the other sets of siblings?
O’NEILL: I tried to develop the sisters by thinking about who they are both outside the family—as independent adults—and within it, where they’ve been shaped from the beginning of their lives and are known in ways and unknown in other ways. Each sister has a specific problem that weekend that could be traced back to earlier conflicts in the family. How they try to resolve their problems becomes an important part of defining their character and roles in the story.
AUTHORLINK: What gave you the idea to call the house “The Folly”?
O’NEILL: The house is many things—it’s stately and full of love and history but it’s also difficult to maintain and a burden to the sisters. It represents the past and the future. It contains multitudes and there’s a kind of madness to it that I thought was captured in the name The Folly.
AUTHORLINK: More comment than a question – I was surprised that Topher was a nickname for Christopher. That will probably make me remember his name. Patra was a character I remember from a story years ago because she also used the last part of her name – Cleopatra. She said her husband was named Leo and she didn’t want to be Cleo and Leo. What can you say about the process of choosing names for your characters?
O’NEILL: I always try to pick names that reflect the world my character comes from—the era, location, and their family background. For the Ryan siblings, I wanted the names to say something about each of the siblings: Christpoher means “to carry,” and that echoes the grief and shame that he bears after the accident. Cait needed a sharp name that had an edge. For Alice, I wanted a classic and reserved name. And Maggie, a nickname for Mairead, is the youngest child and I thought that deserved something a bit whimsical.
AUTHORLINK: We generally think of family as the people with whom we can just be ourselves. But that often isn’t true. The Ryan family had a real struggle with that. What do you think we can learn from reading about their problems?
O’NEILL: I hope readers come away with the idea that we can all offer each other more grace–especially the people closest to us. We need it.
AUTHORLINK: What are you working on next?
O’NEILL: My next novel is Winter Island, and it follows three lives that collide in a high-stake’s pregnancy. It’s set on an old-money enclave off the coast of New York and it’s about desire, art, privilege, and what makes a family. I’m very excited about it.
About the author: Heather Aimee O’Neill authored two poetry collections – Memory Future and Obliteration (with Jessica Piazza). She is a developmental editor and assistant director of the Sackett Street Writers’ Workshop. and a teacher. The Irish Goodbye is her first novel. She lives in Brooklyn with her wife and two sons.
