Giving rural Ireland 'the Bridget Jones treatment': Laois author and farmer Lorna Sixsmith talks about her debut novel

Laois author and dairy farmer, Lorna Sixsmith, spoke to us about her debut novel 'Country Girl at Heart' and what life is like trying to juggle life on the farm as well as writing.

Sixsmith has published three humorous nonfiction books about farming life between 2013 and 2016 titled 'Would You Marry a Farmer?', 'How to be a Perfect Farm Wife', and 'An Ideal Farm Husband.' In 2018 she also published a farming memoir 'Till the Cows Come Home.'

Her debut novel 'Country Girl at Heart' is a romantic comedy about finding love in unexpected places, rediscovering oneself in the most ridiculous situations and embracing the life you never expected. In the novel, Sixmith says: "Basically, I kind of give rural Ireland the Bridget Jones treatment in that there is a love triangle and it is written in a diary format."

The novel's protagonist Kelly O'Sullivan has left London with a broken heart and all her worldly possessions (her kindle, car, clothing and a cat) for her aunt’s farm in rural Ireland. She intends to remain single but suave accountant, Hugh O’Connor, is determined to change her mind. There’s also sensible Steve, her neighbouring farmer. Unexpectedly thrown into the farming deep end, Kelly’s dreams of a peaceful rural retreat become a comedy of agricultural errors. She hadn’t reckoned on wrangling a goat with attitude, driving big machinery or supervising students at the mart. There’s also the issue of many admirers who view her teaching career and her "might-inherit-a-farm" status as perfect "laying hen" wife potential.

The balancing act of dairy farming and writing:

When asked what inspired her to write the book, Sixsmith said: "I know there are female farmers farming in their own right, but most women in farms tend to be the wives of male farmers and I wanted to give that perspective of somebody who comes onto a farm and how puzzling it all is."

She laughs: "My intention for future books is obviously to make her become a very competent farmer. But there'll be lots of trials and errors along the way. So, I suppose the idea came from wanting to give a female perspective on the life of farming."

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Sixsmith farms alongside her husband in County Laois and admits that she is indeed "a farmer first." This can of course come with some challenges to find time for writing, but it also has its advantages. Sixsmith says: "This year was a disaster to try and get finished in terms of my writing time. From mid January to mid April I can't do anything on the book basically, I just don't have the time or the energy."

"Usually the April time I am getting back into writing. This year was a disaster because it was such a wet long winter. I had planned on having the book out three months ago and it just didn't happen because of weather. My best time of year for writing would be from August through to early January, in that I'm not actually doing as much on the farm and it's not as busy."

Balancing the two callings can however prove quite enjoyable for the Laois woman, as she says: "I tend to get bored easily, so the fact that my year can be divided up into doing different things works for me."

Sixsmith affirms that farming is her priority, saying: "the farming has to be done. It has to come first." However, despite successfully publishing three books and a memoir previous to 'Country Girl at Heart', the author added that: "I do think a lot of writers tend to suffer from imposter syndrome. Even though I've written four books, I'm still going am I really an author? Did I really write that? So yes, a farmer first and an author second - at the moment anyway."

Portraying the realities of rural Ireland in fiction:

Rural life has been a long established and beloved theme in Irish literature, and so I was interested to hear what Sixsmith had to say about any Irish authors who may have influenced her work and where 'Country Girl at Heart' stands within this realm of Irish fiction. She said: "Well some of my favourite authors would be Donal Ryan and John McGahern. I love historical fiction like 'Burial Rites' by Hannah Kent. But I suppose they're a very different genre to what I'm writing."

'County Girl at Heart' is a romantic comedy, and although Sixsmith admits it's not a genre she frequently reads, from what she has read, farming and rural life is not typically presented in a wholly authentic way in such works: "When I do read some that are set in a rural environment or on a farm, I suppose a lot of them obviously aren't farmers. Although they do the research well, you can tell. There are lots of stuff they're getting wrong."

Sixsmith was determined to depict a true reflection of farming life in her book and so she said: "some might say my books have too much farming detail, but I wanted that farming detail to be right." She added: "The whole thing about a tough delivery or a death of an animal or that sort of thing, it just points to the accuracy and the realities of farming life. So while there is humour in it, it's also showing what farming life is really like."

Fans of rural themes in Irish literature must admit, we do tend to wallow in the dreary and depressing at times when attempting to portray the realism of life. And this is something which Sixsmith has dabbled in herself. While writing 'Country Girl at Heart', last November the writer admitted she got "a bit bored and needed a break from it" and instead turned to writing quite a dark and contemporary novel also set on a farm. However, she confessed: "But then I was glad to get back to my romantic comedy and the humour of it. Sometimes if you didn't laugh you'd cry!"

Future Plans on and off the page:

When discussing the future of her writing, fans of the book will be happy to know that Sixsmith plans on making 'Country Girl at Heart' into a series: "I think there'll be four or five in total. I've started working on the second one. The first book is set in 2017 and the second is set in 2018, and then depending on events, I'll probably skip a bit of Covid. I'll be likely skipping a year here or 6 months there, just to make things progress."

But that's not all. Sixsmith shared that she also has planned to go beyond the genre of romantic comedy and explore historical fiction and delve into some darker and more gritty content. She assured us that she has "loads of ideas, it's just getting the time to be honest."

When asked about where farming will fit into her future plans, Sixsmith laughed, saying: "Well I'm 55 now so I reckon I have about 8 years of farming left in me, and about 25 years of writing."

To add to her already hectic schedule, Sixsmith will be returning to Carlow College, St. Patrick's this September to start her masters degree in regional history. Sixsmith previously worked at the college teaching media studies.