Writing about collective trauma: The power of fiction to educate and help heal

On Creative Writing

British author Emma Marns shares how she came to write her novel The Walk in this audio essay. The Walk is about two girls who are sent to Bessborough, in Cork, Ireland. Bessborough is one of the many Irish Roman Catholic Mother and Baby homes which operated in Ireland from the mid-1900s until the 1990s.

Emma recounts how while studying for an M.Phil at Trinity College, Dublin, she read an article titled The Girls of Bessborough, by Deirdre Finnerty, which featured interviews with women who had been in Bessbrough. The mother and baby homes are very much recent history and were a systemic approach to dealing with unmarried mothers in Catholic Ireland. Unmarried pregnant women became outcasts and were sent away to institutions run by the Roman Catholic church. They were usually kept there while pregnant and in some cases for years after giving birth. The children, meanwhile, would be forcibly taken from their mothers and adopted. Measures were put in place to ensure the mothers and children were kept apart for the rest of their lives. Emma describes the practice as brutal, abhorrent, and harrowing.

After reading The Girls of Bessborough, Emma went to visit her elderly landlady to find out more about the Mother and Baby homes. The old lady told Emma a story of a friend who in her 40s discovered she'd been adopted; her birth mother had been young, unmarried, and had been taken care of in a domestic home as opposed to a mother and baby home. Says Emma, "The two stories just merged in my mind instantly at her kitchen table, and I felt compelled to sit down and write this book, The Walk. "

Emma stresses that writers of historical fiction based on truth - especially when it's about a collective trauma - must determine their goal: to entertain readers, or inform about the past. She says she would never feel good about selling a book for money if it was not serving the people who went through the traumas. She made sure her research was thorough and accurate, and to that end spent months poring over archival documents, government reports, and personal memoirs. She listened carefully to survivors and consulted with historians so that every detail in The Walk was grounded in truth.

Emma was careful to balance authenticity with protecting the dignity of those who shared their stories. She also faced ethical considerations around fictionalizing real events, and notes that writers must navigate a line between creative license and historical responsibility.

Like all good works, The Walk took many, many edits. Emma finished it during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when hundreds of people were writing books and the publishing industry was saturated with fresh manuscripts, so it took a while to find a publisher.

Emma found innovative ways to connect with readers, such as virtual book clubs, online readings, and interactive Q&A sessions. She also got a slot on a local radio station, Phoenix 98 FM, and these days goes into schools, community events, and workshops to discuss writing and her book.

Accessibility is an important theme in Emma’s approach to publicising and promoting her book. She produced an ebook and audiobook versions of The Walk, recognizing that not all readers have equal access to print materials. She helped getThe Walk in libraries and community centers, particularly in areas with limited resources - she views her novel as partly education and believes education should be free, always.

It is almost impossible for writers to make a substantial living from writing novels (or other books). For Emma, the rewards of writing The Walk have been immense and greater than monetary value. She's received much positive feedback on the book.

If you have questions about writing historical fiction or The Walk, Emma would love to hear from you! She's here: EmmaMarns.com, Instagram, LinkedIn, Goodreads, or Facebook.

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