Author Description

As Long as it Takes gives voice to the lost generation of Irish women who sailed to England to look for work in the middle of the twentieth century. Maura Flaherty and her daughters struggle with identity, belonging, love, sexuality and grief - and dilemmas such as whether to like punk or Elvis. With no concessions to nostalgia or sentimentality, this deeply moving and beautifully written book, by a second-generation Irish writer, tells the interwoven stories of an immigrant family. Maria C. McCarthy skilfully weaves the historical and cultural significance of Anglo-Irish relations into a half-century of family life. Maria C. McCarthy was born in Ewell, Surrey in 1959, and raised by Irish parents. Her Irish heritage features strongly in her poetry, stories and her columns for BBC Radio 4's Home Truths (written and broadcast as Maria Bradley). Her first poetry collection, strange fruits, was published by Cultured Llama in 2011. She has an MA with distinction in creative writing from the University of Kent. She writes in a shed at the end of her garden in a village in North Kent. Her website is www.medwaymaria.co.uk