Famed for its Troubles, the Titanic and the throttle of religious and political segregation Belfast has long been the browbeaten subject of prose and play.
But all that is about to change. There’s a disruptive, new narrative in town and it comes from the enlightened mind of Portadown’s 25-year-old debut author, Lucy McMullan.
Entitled ‘Belles of Belfast’ Lucy’s ‘Daring Tale of Love, Lust and Self-Discovery’ has been a literal labour of love for four years.
Set in Belfast, the empowering and steamy tale promises to captivate readers with its blend of humour, romance, and raw authenticity, as it introduces Anna, a freshly single woman navigating the tumultuous post-breakup landscape, armed with nothing but her wit and an unyielding desire to reclaim her self-worth.
And, like Anna, the process itself has been a journey of self-discovery for the blossoming young author.
From the tender age of 12, Lucy has been an avid story teller. What started with video and content creation for her YouTube channel soon transitioned from the visual to the written. For Lucy, they are but strings from the same bow.
Speaking to Armagh I, Lucy said: “It’s all about storytelling. I loved telling stories in whatever medium and at that age it really translated into video and social media. I wanted to translate that into film some day and I loved reading so I think it all happened very naturally.”
A self-confessed bookworm, she read between the lines of the novels she consumed and as naturally as she progressed from video to page she similarly found her way when it came to penning her own novel.
“I read a lot and I think I know a lot of the elements of story telling from that,” explained Lucy. “But also I think I wrote the story in my head before I sat down to paper. I have a lot of apprehension and a lot of imposter syndrome I think.
“I don’t know anyone who has written a book – well I didn’t at that point. I thought it through a lot in my head before I sat down. I visualised it in my head and then dove in and once I started I couldn’t stop.”
Perhaps controversially, she abstained from reading while writing Belles. There was, however, a method to her madness.
“I actually tried to not read for a long time because I didn’t want it to reflect the work of anyone else,” she added. “If you start reading books alongside writing your own I think you can adopt the style and change the tone so I had to almost do the opposite in a way because I really wanted the voice to stand out.
“I think because it’s such a fresh story for Belfast the concept inspired me to keep writing.”
And it’s that “fresh” story that makes the novel so captivatingly original.
Speaking of her motivations Lucy said: “I think for me, I wanted a really empowering self-love story and that’s the journey the main character goes on. I think it’s so important for young women to read that and feel empowered within themselves and have more self-love, self-worth and confidence. That was the story I wanted to tell.
“I also wanted to show the ‘Sex and the City vibe’ in Belfast. The metropolitan life that we live. We don’t have anything like that and if you compare it to the likes of Bridget Jones or even Sex and the City in America they are showcasing places like the Plaza Hotel. You think of that place and you know it because it’s shown in those shows. We don’t show that we have places like the Merchant Hotel for example, which is absolutely incredible.
“There’s so many places like the Cathedral Quarter and how gorgeous it is. We don’t show these places in the light they should be shown in. Every single show about Belfast makes you think of like an old, dark street.
While the tale itself interrogates the romantic, Lucy is emphatic that her depiction of a bright, bustling and burgeoning Belfast city is not a romanticisation. For her, it’s real life.
She explained: “I’m not trying to paint over anything but I’m keen to tell this story. The book starts off by saying the girls don’t care about what religion they are, this isn’t that kind of Belfast story. I showcase the city in the light that it’s in now, today.
“There’s not one narrative to my mind that doesn’t center on the Protestant, Catholic, Troubles, bombs. Honestly, there is nothing I love more than walking down the Cathedral Quarter on a Friday or Saturday night. It’s buzzing. You can hear the music pouring out onto the street, the lights of the Duke of York for example and that is so full of culture and we don’t show it.
“There’s nothing better than the next morning going into a coffee shop with your girls and catching up and that’s a city girl’s life and we don’t have representation for that. I really wanted Belles to hold a mirror up to that version of the city that especially young women live and know but isn’t represented on screen or page.”
Creating an appreciation for our capital city fulfils only part of Lucy’s intention for the novel. Ultimately, she hopes that each reader will take away something much more introspective.
As a young woman, attempting something so explorative, original and imbued with self and then laying it bare for the world to critique comes with its own challenges.
Of the main character Anna, who is on her own journey of self-discovery, Lucy makes the distinction: “Anna is completely fictional. There’s little elements every so often about the emotions I have been through as a woman and how I translate them through her but the story is fictional and she is definitely a fictional character.
“The self-love journey is something I have obviously definitely went on. The confidence within myself, dealing with imposter syndrome, dealing with different types of men and my emotions surrounding that. Those definitely translate but it’s told in her way.
“I would like women to feel represented and glued to the page. I want them to learn so much about themselves through the process of reading.
“There is a lot about desire. There’s a lot about self-love, confidence, dealing with certain scenarios, dealing with friendships and the dynamics of family relationships and it’s all sort of wrapped within the pages.”
Belles of Belfast is now available to purchase on Amazon where it is currently ranked within their Top 5000 books. Locally, it is available at Waterstones and W H Smith stores and is even stocked at Barnes & Noble stores across America.
If have already been lucky enough to gobble through a copy, you might be hungry for more. Without giving too much away – Lucy may soon be ready to serve up second helpings.
She continued: “I would love to do this full time. I have another book in the works and who knows, maybe it will be another Belles as well!”
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