Beating the Odds

In the late 1960s, Thea’s father buys a rural tavern, remortgaging their Belfast home to finance it. Despite hating the place and people, Thea helps at the pub. Her family depend on her as the ‘in-between’: she ensures her alcoholic father does not drink and manages him as best she can, when he does; and protects her mother by filtering information and telling her only what needs to be known. Thea also worries what will happen to her younger brother if she is not there. Despite loving them, she knows if she stays she will resent them for losing the opportunity of a place at an English University. Yet, leaving could shatter her family.

Thea tells ten stories to her granddaughter about her time at the pub. About the: alcohol that inspired laughter and tears; music that aroused passions and dreams; conflicts that caused curses and catastrophes; people who sold the mysterious and magical; and quirky pub customers, once strangers, who became her support system.

If you like Maeve Binchy novels and if stories with a twist appeal, then you will like Beating the Odds.

This novel will appeal to those who enjoy collections of stories, such as All Creatures Great and Small. Each of the ten stories can stand alone or read as a novel with characters and storyline developing. It is akin to Call the Midwife with its laughter and tears and to Alexander McCall Smith’s Botswana stories, with original setting, folklore, and stealthy plots. But, in Beating the Odds, Northern Irish myths and beliefs creep in: fun and laughter against a dark backdrop.

Beating the Odds fills a niche for thought provoking stories that will have you discussing them and thinking of Thea long after them you’ve closed the book.

Beating the Odds is now out for agent review.