Derry author Shauna Duffy fulfils childhood dream with debut novel 'Mollie Collins Is Mental'

Shauna’s book follows Mollie Collins, who finds herself replaced within her own family, with another woman taking her place beside her husband and caring for her children. Mollie Collins has no choice to give them up or disaster will befall those she loves.

Speaking about the book Shauna said: “Mollie Collins is Mental is a story beginning in a place where you feel you know what is happening, and just when you have put the feet up and relaxed into your reading, Mollie Collins will whisk you on a journey with her, on to a path of no return.”

Shauna spoke of child dreams of becoming an author, she said: “At eight years old, I had dreams of being an author, Roald Dahl was my favourite. Then I grew up into a sensible, sometimes cranky, adult on a vocational path but that little bit of magic never left.

“No matter if I was feeding a baby or sending emails or handing my husband a DIY to-do-list,

then chasing him up for six months. My hand always found a pen and the pen always made magical words form at the end of it, stringing them together in sentences, dancing as one into a poem, a short story or the big one: a novel.”

The new author said she had long toyed with the idea of writing and completing a novel, but with the demands of being a working mother, she never quite managed to reach the finish line.

Shauna finally put pen to paper after taking part in a Wellness at Work programme led by Western Trust wellbeing facilitator Michelle McGowan. Inspired by the sessions, she committed herself to writing each week and gradually brought her novel to life.

“Michelle focused on different wellbeing areas with a continual focus on goal setting. No smish smosh, proper, thorough, specific, goal setting and I set myself the personal goal of a publication date for my first fiction novel and guess what, It worked,” said Shauna.

Mollie Collins Is Mental by Shauna Healy Duff is now available on Amazon and Kindle.