Northsider Lindsay has the magic touch

Orla O’Driscoll 

ACCORDING to Marino-based author and playwright, Lindsay J Sedgwick, fear doesn’t hurt. 

And while that may not be her euphemism for life, a germ of truth of it lives in her drive to never give up.

From a hopeful nine-year-old writing her first book, the dream of being a great writer never went away and unlike many dreamers, Sedgwick made her dream, a reality.

Her latest novel, ‘The Angelica Touch’, is based on the premise of what might happen if the daughter of a single parent were to decide to organise the parent’s love life.

The story is set in Donegal, a throwback, according to Sedgwick, of her time spent with her grandmother who ran a hotel on the seafront in Dun Laoghaire.

“I loved being there, and the hotel had so many stories. And then the isolation and beauty of Donegal, for me, was a perfect fit for this novel, and for Angelica,” she tells Northside People.

While most of her work is fiction, she alludes to times in her own history, and has borrowed from others. 

“I had a friend, and her work colleague, who was unattached, had to deal with a five-year-old daughter dragging stray men across the school playground, to introduce to her. She would tell them ‘my mommy needs a husband and I need a daddy,” Sedgwick laughs.

Her own time in her 20s spent working in a dating agency in Australia, and her time as a single mum helped her to shape the story of Angelica.

By her own admission, Sedgwick is a light sleeper; considering the massive volume of work she has accomplished, the supposition is, she never sleeps. 

“When you get a story you just can’t help it. I find that editing is painful, but I like the rough draft stage because you know the story works.”

While novels have now become central to her creative offerings, Sedgewick’s career began as a cheeky 17-year-old journalist. 

She has written screenplays, feature plays, TV scripts (Fair City) and for radio, as well as having her play, ‘Fear doesn’t hurt’ read in the Abbey. 

Sedgwick notes ‘Angelica’s Touch’, was also originally a screenplay.

 “It was much more difficult than I thought. I thought I would simply have to add prose to the screenplays, but the process is different,” Sedgwick says.

And while the author knows, that Angelica’s mum is perfectly fine, thank you very much, it is Angelica who gets it into her head that she can’t have a boyfriend until her mum has.

Sedgwick’s first book, ‘Dad’s Red Dress’, met great success under her own Indy Published label Janey Mac Books.

“If you do it well, it’s as good as being with a publishing house, you are not waiting on a publisher to get around to putting the book out, so you have more autonomy,” she says.

She adds: “A love story for most of the characters, it should leave you smiling. Doing things for the wrong reasons might lead to the right results.”

•The Angelica Touch (and Dad's Red Dress) are available on Amazon and in Books Upstairs while signed copies can be purchased directly from the author via [email protected].