Clare author tells the modern-day fairytale of Limerella

Author Gráinne O’Brien is all smiles as she talks about releasing her first book, why Limerick is like a "scrappy little sister" and powerful women being "her brand."

The Clare native has recently published A Limerick Fairytale, a fun and irreverent re-telling of Cinderella. Once upon a time, a prince was looking for some excitement – the kind of thrilling life you read about in fairytales. Prince wants a princess to have his happily ever after, but when he’s certain he has found the love of his life in Limerella, she’s not so sure she agrees.

The children’s buyer for O’Mahony’s Booksellers, Gráinne is also the founder of Rontu Literary Service, which is dedicated to supporting writers of fiction for children as they seek publication of their manuscripts. In 2018, she completed the MA in Creative Writing in UL and received an Irish Arts Council Agility Awards in both 2021 and 2022.

A third of an established series published by O’Brien, A Limerick Fairytale came to life after Gráinne advocated for Limerick to be included in a series retelling fairytales in Dublin and Galway.

“I advocated, when they were subbing me, that they should consider doing Limerick because Limerick people love Limerick in a way that is like impossible to understand if you don't live here. So, they asked me to write it,” she explains.

According to her, it took a while to settle on what the story would look like. “There was a lot of back and forth about it with Michael O’Brien, who unfortunately passed away suddenly last year.”

The author would have liked to see Michael read the fairytale. "I’m sad that he hasn't seen A Limerick Fairytale finished because the original draft with Limerella started as a joke. I needed a place name for the princess and I called her Limerella in my drafts, but we ended up keeping it."

Surprisingly enough, the author has no intention of writing children’s literature.

“It always surprises everyone because I work in children's books. When you’re on the front line, book selling is the front line of publishing, it’s hard to separate yourself from it,” she says.

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“The children's publishing market is so complicated, so hit or miss, and very much dependent on the parents rather than the kids. It was never my intention to write children's literature. I always wanted to write adult fiction.”

For the last three years, she has been working on a novel – one that caters for adults.

“It’s something that I won't stop doing until it’s done. It’s edgy and dark, you'd be very surprised. I think the writing style comes through, powerful women is my brand.”

The women Gráinne wants to write about are respected, and they know what they want. After all, as she pointed out, powerful women is her brand.

In A Limerick Fairytale, Limerella portrays a strong heroine – a person the author herself tries to emulate in her day-to-day life.

Speaking of the character, she says: “Limerella was always her own person, she was always her own character, and she knew what she wanted. She's definitely who I wish I had been when I was younger. As I've gotten older, she is definitely a person that I try to emulate more, just have the power to do your own thing, and wear flat shoes if you want to.”

With her Limerick version of Cinderella, Gráinne aimed to get Limerick into the story as much as possible. “I didn't want it to just be Limerick city, I wanted it to be in the county as well,” she notes.

Speaking of the city that owns her heart, she points out: “I've lived in Limerick since I was 25, and I just can't imagine being anywhere else. I love how people like are so grumpy about it sometimes, but then if you try to say anything negative about it, it's like a family member - I can criticise it, but you can't. It gets kicked and kicked and kicked, and it just refuses to stay down, and I love that about Limerick.”

According to her, the Treaty City is like “your scrappy little sister”.

“There’s so much personality in the city, it’s got a scrappy personality. Dublin is just so clinical, but Limerick is just like your scrappy little sister, giving you the more interesting stories. It’s got more texture and grit, there’s so much to get inspired by here,” she smiles.

For the Clare native, books are “like breathing” and they’ve always been there. Growing up, Gráinne used to read the Eloise and the series The Song of The Lioness.

Speaking of the latter, she recalls: “It’s about a girl who disguised her gender to become a knight. They're great, and definitely my first introduction into feminism”.

In a Limerick city bookshop, she oversees the children’s department, but Gráinne has one mission. “I view it as my responsibility to encourage every child that comes to me to love reading and fall in love with books. I think it's so important.

“Sometimes, with the best intentions, parents make it seem like a chore. And reading for pleasure is just one of the greatest gifts that I've been given. It taught me that reading is about fun and escapism,” she concludes.