Fresh from winning Novel of the Year at the Irish Book Awards, Roisín O’Donnell’s debut novel Nesting has struck a chord with readers for the thoughtful way in which the book tackles themes of motherhood, survival, and domestic violence.
O’Donnell has been a revered short story writer for over a decade, and her work has been published in The Irish Times, The Stinging Fly, and has also featured on RTÉ Radio.
After being commissioned to write a short story for Spoken Stories on RTÉ Radio in 2020, O’Donnell decided to write about a woman named Ciara Fay who lived in emergency accommodation in a hotel, after leaving an abusive partner.
Calls to Women’s Aid had skyrocketed after lockdown and so had the number of families in emergency accommodation, and she felt compelled to tell a story that was true to reality for a lot of people.
The story itself consisted of one single day in Ciara’s life, and it was read for radio by Siobhán McSweeney. However, after hearing it being read aloud, O’Donnell felt obligated to tell more of the story than she had originally planned to, as she felt there was more to tell.
“I wanted to know what would happen next. I wanted to know whether she would find a way out of homelessness, if she would escape her abusive partner, and the story wouldn’t really leave me alone after that,” O’Donnell said.
Set against the backdrop of the housing crisis in Ireland, O’Donnell captures just how hard it is to escape a controlling relationship and find the courage to build a new life out of the tatters of an old one.
The novel is an unflinching, emotionally charged portrayal of the realities of being in an abusive marriage whilst having two kids under the age of five, and the struggle it is not only to leave, but having the resolve to stay away.
Nesting is a story that is sure to stay with readers for a very long time.
“It struck me on the night, as I watched Elaine Feeney win Author of the Year and Jacqueline Connolly winning Non-Fiction Book of the Year for The Deadly Silence, that we were spotlighting a lot of issues that affect women through the themes in our books,” O’Donnel explained, referring to the Irish Book Awards ceremony.
“Coercive control, domestic violence; these are the stories that need to be told. We need to lift the shame and the stigma around them.”
O’Donnell is a seasoned short story writer, but when it came to writing Nesting, she was a full-time working mother to two young kids, and expresses that it was not always easy.
“I would frequently abandon it for months at a time, and kept thinking nobody would want to read it. I really struggled with my confidence.
“But the story kept pulling me back to it, and I think a huge part of sticking with it is finding a story that you feel compelled to write, and that you’re really invested in.”
O’Donnell described her time as a member of a writing group, and how it had a huge impact on her motivation to write.
“It was daunting at the start [to write the novel]. I’m grateful for the support of a group of writer friends who I’d got to know through an online course that I did with Curtis Brown Creative.
“It was a three-month remote novel writing course, and I got to know a group of students from all over the world. We set up a WhatsApp group after the course to support and cheer each other on.
“Several of us have gone on to publish novels in a variety of genres and subject matters, but I think since we’re all writers with busy lives, it’s important to have other writers encourage you to keep going when you feel intimidated.
“I recommend that to anyone who wants to try writing. You don’t need a whole group of people, even just two or three writers that you can share work with and bounce ideas off. It really helps.”
Reflecting on the process of writing Nesting, O’Donnell expressed her love for writing with pen and paper.
“I think it’s a great way to get ideas flowing”, she clarified, explaining that she finds it easier to make changes that way later on, when she types her handwritten notes out on a laptop.
“I think anything that makes it more accessible for a large amount of people is a good thing. When I was writing Nesting, I even got into the habit of writing quite a bit on my phone in the Google Docs app.
“I found that I would write in little time slots, when I was cooking dinner, or late at night sitting up with one of my kids. I would have an idea and start typing it into my document on my phone.
“I found it really handy, since the phone screen only allows you to see a few sentences at a time, and it really narrowed down my focus.”
With novel writing, O’Donnell believes in the importance of focusing on the bigger picture, rather than getting bogged down with the details.
When it comes to being an author, O’Donnell is firm in her belief that anyone can write.
“The hardest thing is to start. I would begin by going back to basics and writing freehand with a notebook and pen, and jotting down a scene or two.
“People get bogged down with thinking they need to start at the opening scene and have a whole plan for the story, but your plan can change as you write.
“One of the most pivotal scenes in Nesting, the washing line scene, is one of the first scenes I wrote, and doesn’t occur at the beginning of the book. Start writing and see where it takes you.”
For students and aspiring writers, O’Donnell’s journey is an encouraging one.
She spoke candidly about the uncertainty of it all, how persistence can pay off, and the slow work of learning how to trust your own voice; these realities are often glossed over in discussions of literary success.
As Nesting continues to find new readers, O’Donnell remains refreshingly open about the fact that writing is not about instant recognition, but about showing up to the page again and again.
It is a reminder that even award-winning novels begin, quite simply, with someone deciding to pick up the pen.
