A NEW children’s book released last week features the Mourne Mountains and Silent Valley as its setting.
‘The Haunting of Fortune Farm’ was written by Northern Ireland native Sophie Kirtley.
Although she is not originally from County Down, Sophie has always had a special affinity for the Mourne Mountains after coming to south Down on a school trip.
“I was born near Coleraine and I spent my teenage years in Belfast. My first real encounter with the Mournes was during my Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition when I was in Fourth or Fifth Year at school,” she said.
“Even through all the blisters and navigational struggles, I really did fall in love with the place. I don’t think I’d ever been anywhere that felt so wild!
“It’s clearly a landscape that has stayed lodged in my heart as the Mourne Mountains are what inspired the setting for my third novel – ‘The Haunting of Fortune Farm’,” Sophie said.
The book is about a 12-year-old girl named Edie and her younger brother who go on “an exciting and chilling adventure” and search for a lost Viking hoard as they spend their Halloween break at their grandmother’s farm in the Mournes.
The book came out last Thursday (26 September), in paperback and is published by Bloomsbury. It will be available to purchase at a variety of bookstores, including Waterstones in Newry which will have some signed copies, and from online retailers.
“Steeped in inspiration from the wild Irish landscape, this is an emotional and spine-tingling ghost story perfect for fans of ‘The House with Chicken Legs’, ‘A Girl Called Owl’ and ‘A Pocketful of Stars’,” a spokesperson from Bloomsbury said.
The new book is geared toward children ages 8 to 13, but Sophie said she doesn’t like to put an age limit on her books since “kids are such varied and voracious readers”.
There’s no plans yet for a local book launch event, but Sophie said that there might be one in the future.
Despite being a well-known children’s author and prize-winning poet, Sophie said her local “claim to fame” was that she was featured on the Royal Mail’s special yellow post box in Castlewellan, which was located outside Nel’s café at Main Street in the town, for World Book Day in 2022.
“A few years ago, I had the honour of having my face on a yellow postbox in Castlewellan! The postbox was commissioned to mark World Book Day and celebrated local authors who write for children. My book ‘The Wild Way Home’ featured, along with books by fellow Northern Irish authors Kelly McCaughrean, Dara McAnulty and Martin Waddell.”
Sophie also has a family link to Newcastle through her sister-in-law.
“Nowadays my major connection to the area is through my lovely sister-in-law, Orla [Logan (née King)], who is from the area. She and my brother, Niall, even got married in Newcastle. Orla knows the Mournes very well and thinks that the artist, Ben Mantle, who created the cover of the book, has captured the mountains spot on!”
She decided to set the book in the Mournes and Silent Valley as it captured the feeling she wanted to evoke in the book for her young readers.
“It’s just such an atmospheric place. So wild and so timeless – the kind of place that makes you feel awestruck and almost like anything can happen.
“I also think the name ‘Silent Valley’ sounds very spooky and as my book is a bit of a ghost story I felt that fitted very well indeed,” she said.
‘The Haunting of Fortune Farm’ is Sophie’s fourth book.
“All my books have a link to Northern Ireland in some way too. My first – ‘The Wild Way Home’ – is inspired by Mountsandel Forest near Coleraine. My second, ‘The Way to Impossible Island’, is inspired by Rathlin Island and now this, inspired by the Mournes,” Sophie said.
“I’ve also written a picture book for younger children – ‘Our Wee Place’ – it’s about a wee girl and her granda going on a road trip around Northern Ireland and was beautifully illustrated by talented Belfast-based artist, Ellan Rankin.”
“When I was growing up, I don’t ever remember seeing a place I knew well in a book I read or reading characters who spoke like me. This is why I set my books in Ireland and feature wee Northern Irish words and phrases in them – it really matters to me that kids from where we’re from see themselves in the books they read.”
She said that she began writing at a young age.
“I’ve always written, even when I was a very wee girl, I loved reading and I loved making up stories. I’m the oldest of four so I spent a lot of time making up stories for my younger siblings when we were growing up,” she said.
“My heart is very much in writing fiction for young people, but I write all sorts of things.
“Before I wrote fiction, I wrote poetry, for both children and adults, and I still love doing this. I’ve also written quite a few site-specific commissions (stories about particular places to bring them to life for child visitors) I’ve done this for parks and historical sites. I also regularly write articles for magazines and online publications about creative writing processes and about my work.”
Sophie now resides in England with her family.
“I live near Bath with three kids, two cats and one husband,” she said.
“It’s gorgeous but I still do miss home.”
Sophie has a Bachelor’s degree in English Literature and French and a Master’s degree in Writing for Young People.
“I truly love writing and I think that children are the most important people to write books for – they deserve the very best. It’s the books that you read while growing up that stick in your head, that shape the person you’ll one day become,” she said.
“I see it as a real honour and a responsibility to write books for young people. There are so many amazing books out there for children that sometimes parents and even teachers can feel a bit overwhelmed with how to direct a young reader.
“We think of the books we loved as kids – the Roald Dahls and the classics – or go to books with celebrity names on the cover as a bit of a safe bet. Librarians, booksellers and organisations like Children’s Books Ireland (childrensbooksireland.ie/) or BookTrust (www.booktrust.org.uk/) can really help kids and their adults discover all the brilliant books that are out there.”