All proceeds from Beatrice Aird O’Hanlon's new story book, “The Treacle Sea”, go to finding new treatments in combating children’s illnesses.

I have the pleasure of hosting East Coast FM’s Saturday morning magazine show which covers the news and events from around the Garden County. Anyone wishing to listen in to Wicklow This Week can catch it live at 9am (Irish time – GMR +1 currently) every Saturday morning 

Yesterday I had Delgany author Beatrice Aird O’Hanlon in studio to talk about the launch of her book, entitled “The Treacle Sea”.

The inspiration for the book came from a trip to Co. Clare some years ago when she learned of the exquisite treasures strewn around the coast of Ireland since the Spanish Armada in 1588. SheI thought about the rich marine life in the seas off the coast of Ireland, so she  married these two ideas  and came up with The Treacle Sea, which comprises the first two stories.

This book is a collection of beautifully illustrated short stories, featuring Henrietta, a clever Herring, Mabel, a greedy crab, and Olivia, a curious lobster, who are forced to leave an old shipwreck, when there is an oil spill and the sea is the color and consistency of treacle, and go in search of cleaner waters. Thrown together by chance and disaster, these courageous creatures will soon discover that their fates are all linked together.

Her sister, Jane Langwell, did the illustrations.

The inspiration for the remainder of the stories came from her love of animals and insects and the purity of their fragile little lives. She is surrounded by a beautiful garden here in County Wicklow, full of flowers, birds and insects and she loves to sit and let her imagination fly and compose stories around each of their little lives, from the ladybird and snail in the Sugar Peach Tree to Tammy, the crow.

She also feels passionately about ecology and the environment and if these stories can inspire children to take care of our beautiful planet, then her writing will not have been in vain.

The Treacle Sea would be suitable for children between the ages 5-8 years of age.

All the proceeds of the sale of the book will go to the Children’s Medical and Research Foundation in Crumlin. Beatrice worked for many years in clinical research, setting up and monitoring clinical trials in Ireland and abroad and did quite a bit of work in Crumlin Hospital over the years and realize the importance of research in finding new treatments in combating children’s illnesses.

Signed copies of the book can be purchased directly from the author, through her Facebook page, Beatrice Aird O’Hanlon, or via her website   for the sum of 11.50 Euros + postage. 

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