INTERVIEW: ‘Writing my first novel was my salvation’ during lockdown

Jane Buckley has been an avid reader all of her life and if the opportunity had existed when she was younger would have loved to become a journalist.

She began writing her first novel in 2017, however put it away in a drawer for a couple of years.

Jane used the lockdown period to finish the book ‘Stones Corner: Turmoil’ and described the writing experience as her ‘salvation’ during the pandemic.

She has just finished writing the second instalment in a series of books which will follow the same characters throughout The Troubles up until the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.

Jane, who was born in the Bogside and grew up in Shantallow, said she used reading to escape.

“I used to sit in the corner of my shared bedroom with my Holly Hobbie posters reading the same books repeatedly. These were the only books in the house that occupied our three shelved bookcase or “library” as my family called it.

“Our “library” held a mixture of titles from Jane Austen to Catherine Cookson to a gold- gilded Family Bible adorned with beautiful holy pictures and an incomplete set of heavy, blue Encyclopaedia Britannica – I’m still not sure if they were ever paid for!”

Jane said that reading helped her survive during the difficult times of the 1970s and early 80s. 

“It took me away from some of the unpleasantness of life at the time. I’ve always had a vivid imagination and was always making up stories to tell my two brothers Charles and Brian before bedtime.”

Jane, like many young people at the time, moved to England to get work when she was 17 and lived away from the city for over 30 years.

She initially settled in London, working in sales and marketing for a number of years, before moving to Nice in France when her husband retired.

“I always knew I was going to come back home because all my family are here, well apart from my daughters Maggie, who lives in New Zealand with our grandchildren, and Cassie, who lives in Oxford.”

Jane moved back to Ireland around three years ago, initially renting a cottage in Malin Head where she started writing her novel.

The Stones Corner series will be a mixture of fact and fiction and Jane said she decided to write about The Troubles because of the lack of understanding about the era.

“I lived away and did a lot of travelling and one of my greatest frustrations was the lack of understanding from the people I met on why the Troubles began or continued over the decades.

“Even now a lot of the younger generation don’t understand what it was really like, so I want to educate them on the facts through a story.”

The story focuses on a young Catholic girl who falls in love with her boss, a Protestant shirt factory owner.

Jane said she has attempted to make the book as unbiased as possible to portray ‘the deep divisions endemic within Northern Irish society in that era’.

“I could potentially offend some people with this book because I have tried to be as unbiased as possible but I have got to an age where I have realised that you can’t please everyone. I do hope that people enjoy the book and learn from it.

“There are quite a few hard hitting scenes in the book, including a young pregnant girl getting tarred and feathered. It is shocking that things like that happened on our doorstep and it really isn’t that long ago.”

Jane has now settled in Burt and loves being so close to the city. She is using her savings to self-publish the series of books .

“Derry has come such a long way in that space of time. I love Derry and I’m so proud to be from here and I think we have done brilliant. We have been the poor cousin for quite some time but things are really moving in the right direction.”

‘Stones Corner: Turmoil’ will be released in February and to pre-order or purchase the book visit: www.janebuckleywrites.com