BY JOHN FITZGERALD
An inspirational story of life, love, loss and survival was revealed at a book launch in Callan on Saturday.
The Four Ships, by Kilkenny woman Tanya Mullins, is a non-fiction book that I found as compelling as any novelistic page-turner
Tanya has set down her recollection of a three decade phase of her life into which was packed enough dire challenges to fill, and very possibly overwhelm, a dozen lives.
Coping with poverty and marriage break-up in the earlier stage of her journey and then the seemingly elusive, sometimes nightmarish balancing act of debt management would test anyone’s stamina and will to live. But the author found the vigour to do battle with adversity. Light gradually filtered through, almost imperceptibly at first.
But Tanya’s courageous fight-back against problems that might have bested many a robust household was just the beginning of her Tribulation.
Her world was shattered by the death of a beloved daughter. Summoning all her inner strength, and with the support of family and friends, she navigated her way through a cruel, emotionally harrowing phase, finding a love that brought hope and a fragile optimism back into her life.
But then, the unthinkable happened. She lost a second daughter. Tragedy threatened to consume her life, a grief beyond reason or consoling Calling upon reserves of grit and resilience she never knew she had, she soldiered on.
Far from being crushed by a burden and a loss that nobody should have to bear, she somehow managed to dispel the dark shadows, even sharing her own insights with others to help them through their grief or mental health issues
Writing and painting proved life-enhancing allies to Tanya and her way with words proved a blessing when she got around to telling her own remarkable story.
Launching the The Four Ships, Tanya’s uncle, the Callan-born poet and novelist, Thomas Keating, told the gathering at Fennelly’s that the book had an effect on him analogous to that of the opening twenty minutes of the film Saving Private Ryan. He felt “pulled into” the story, swept along by the emotional traumas and the emerging Darkness into Light narrative that especially rewards the reader who completes the book at one sitting.
“It was un-put-downable and an unforgettable read” he said, a not-to-be missed encounter with a real woman of substance. He felt “hopelessly pinned down in a pincer movement” by the narrative.
He added: “It is perhaps this book’s most commendable quality that Tanya, amid her own pain and grief, still found the generosity to reach out a helping hand to fellow sufferers. There’s many a curative nugget to be found in these pages. This is an exceptionally important document, a chronicle of wisdom wrenched from pain…the outpouring of a wounded woman’s heart. I am confident this heart-breaking true story will loom large wherever women’s issues are aired.”
There was praise too at the launch for artist Julia Bowen, whose stunning cover design resonates with the themes of renewal, survival, and inner strength.
The Four Ships by Tanya Mullins is available from Amazon and local bookshops.
