HERE IS A LITTLE SAMPLE OF MY WHIRLWIND BLOG TOUR SCROLL DOWN AND STOP A WHILE.
Here are the blogs/websites which have featured The Ballroom Café. Just keep scrolling down.
http://www.writing.ie/resources/who-what-where-when-and-why-by-ann-oloughlin/http://www.writing.ie/resources/how-to-make-your-characters-dance-by-ann-oloughlin/
Novelicious Chats To...Ann O'Loughlin
Ann O'Loughlin has popped over today to tell us a little about her book, The Ballroom Café. This novel, set in a small village in Ireland, tells the story of two elderly sisters living in a crumbling mansion who haven't spoken to each other for decades and only communicate via notes on the bureau in the hall. The story is centred around the Irish baby scandal, where thousands of babies were sold to rich American couples by the Catholic church, in most cases without the knowledge or agreement of the mother.
Can you tell us a little about your average writing day?
Early, early, early.
I get up at 5am. Even the dog stays curled up asleep. I like it when the house is quiet and there are no interruptions. It gives me thinking time and time to stop and stare and most of all to write. I live in the countryside with a marsh behind our house and the sea in front, so it is often the dawn chorus , a squabbling duck or a thundering sea hitting the shore that disrupts my writing, but I can live with that.
If it is a work day – I am a journalist – I usually stay at my desk which is actually a big comfy armchair beside the French doors in the kitchen until 8am, when the kids get up and get ready for school. If it is a day off work and school, then I can spend another few hours until my brain gives out or the kids give out or both.
When you are writing, do you use any celebrities or people you know as inspiration?
I believe it is the lives of us ordinary men and women that are the most interesting. What do they say; if we all threw our troubles in to the middle of the floor, you would pick up your own pretty fast. I am fascinated by the tales of bravery, hardship and courage in ordinary lives. Being a celebrity and wearing diamonds is easy compared to the hard slog of living life.
What is your favourite Women’s Fiction book of all time and why?
This is so difficult to answer, but for me it has to be Mary Lavelle by Kate O'Brien. I think Kate O'Brien was one of the foremost writers in Ireland and for me it is always a toss up between O'Brien and Jennifer Johnston. What I particularly like about O'Brien's work is how strong the women are – I tend to gravitate towards that myself in my own writing. I have O'Brien on my bedside table and often I will just pick up Mary Lavelle and read a few pages – it is the language, the descriptive passages; the bloody good story. Above all it is beautiful writing.
Early, early, early.
I get up at 5am. Even the dog stays curled up asleep. I like it when the house is quiet and there are no interruptions. It gives me thinking time and time to stop and stare and most of all to write. I live in the countryside with a marsh behind our house and the sea in front, so it is often the dawn chorus , a squabbling duck or a thundering sea hitting the shore that disrupts my writing, but I can live with that.
If it is a work day – I am a journalist – I usually stay at my desk which is actually a big comfy armchair beside the French doors in the kitchen until 8am, when the kids get up and get ready for school. If it is a day off work and school, then I can spend another few hours until my brain gives out or the kids give out or both.
When you are writing, do you use any celebrities or people you know as inspiration?
I believe it is the lives of us ordinary men and women that are the most interesting. What do they say; if we all threw our troubles in to the middle of the floor, you would pick up your own pretty fast. I am fascinated by the tales of bravery, hardship and courage in ordinary lives. Being a celebrity and wearing diamonds is easy compared to the hard slog of living life.
What is your favourite Women’s Fiction book of all time and why?
This is so difficult to answer, but for me it has to be Mary Lavelle by Kate O'Brien. I think Kate O'Brien was one of the foremost writers in Ireland and for me it is always a toss up between O'Brien and Jennifer Johnston. What I particularly like about O'Brien's work is how strong the women are – I tend to gravitate towards that myself in my own writing. I have O'Brien on my bedside table and often I will just pick up Mary Lavelle and read a few pages – it is the language, the descriptive passages; the bloody good story. Above all it is beautiful writing.
Kate O'Brien died in the 1970s, but her literary career spanned fifty years – I love all her other books as well, but if you are to read any, I would recommend Mary Lavelle. 
What is your writing process? Do you plan first or dive in? How many drafts do you do?
I usually have an idea in my head for a very long time before I even attempt to write it down. Often I do research and just pile it up knowing when the time is right, it will all hopefully fall into place. That is what it was like for The Ballroom Cafe. There are so many threads; the village, the cafe; the recipes; the interior. Then there was the whole big issue of adoption. The fun bits were researching the crumbling old mansion the O'Callaghans live in; the china cups and the picking of those beautiful Weiss brooches. It is very daunting to stare at the blank page so I just start writing; you know you are on the right track when the characters start talking in your head. Sounds strange, but it is what works for me. Now, when they start jostling for attention and shouting at me, it is hard to keep up with them. I write and rewrite, trying to get a good first draft done which is the template for the book. Every rewrite makes the novel better. I am convinced of that and for the writer, I find it is a good process, where you see the polish put on the sentences and the whole book begin to shine.
What was your journey to being a published author?
It was a long hard journey, but who doesn't have a tale to tell about the rejections and the fish ... ooops ... book deals that got away. It wasn't so much the path to publication was difficult; it took me so long to find my own voice as a writer. Once I did that, I believed in myself, but it was still still so difficult to get an agent. The best day for my writing was when agent Jenny Brown of Jenny Brown Associates rang me. Everything changed from that moment on. Black and White Publishing Scotland are a brilliant crew to be with and I feel very lucky that The Ballroom Cafe is in their hands.
What do you think is the biggest myth about being a novelist?
That we sit with our feet up quaffing champagne waiting for inspiration. If there are authors like that out there, I would love to hear from them. For me it is impossibly early starts, lots of tea and toast and hard graft on the sentences with once in the blue moon inspiration setting the fingers flying across the keyboard. More often than not, it is 500 words on an empty stomach, before I can have a cuppa, another 500 words to earn my toast and yet another hard worked 500 words before the biscuit tin is an option.
What advice can you give to our readers who want to write a novel of their own?
Make time. Writers come up with all sorts of excuses as to why they can't sit down and write. Really, you just have to steal the time and get on with it. It doesn't matter if you don't have an up to date lap top; a desk or even a private space. All you need is a comfy seat- you are going to be in it a lot - and something to write on, laptop or longhand, and away you go. Keep the bottle of champagne for much later when you land a book deal.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on my second novel – Monsoon Tears – which is based in Ireland and India. I lived in India at one time, so it is a wonderful journey back for me, but my lips are sealed on saying anything else about it.
Thanks, Ann!
I usually have an idea in my head for a very long time before I even attempt to write it down. Often I do research and just pile it up knowing when the time is right, it will all hopefully fall into place. That is what it was like for The Ballroom Cafe. There are so many threads; the village, the cafe; the recipes; the interior. Then there was the whole big issue of adoption. The fun bits were researching the crumbling old mansion the O'Callaghans live in; the china cups and the picking of those beautiful Weiss brooches. It is very daunting to stare at the blank page so I just start writing; you know you are on the right track when the characters start talking in your head. Sounds strange, but it is what works for me. Now, when they start jostling for attention and shouting at me, it is hard to keep up with them. I write and rewrite, trying to get a good first draft done which is the template for the book. Every rewrite makes the novel better. I am convinced of that and for the writer, I find it is a good process, where you see the polish put on the sentences and the whole book begin to shine.
What was your journey to being a published author?
It was a long hard journey, but who doesn't have a tale to tell about the rejections and the fish ... ooops ... book deals that got away. It wasn't so much the path to publication was difficult; it took me so long to find my own voice as a writer. Once I did that, I believed in myself, but it was still still so difficult to get an agent. The best day for my writing was when agent Jenny Brown of Jenny Brown Associates rang me. Everything changed from that moment on. Black and White Publishing Scotland are a brilliant crew to be with and I feel very lucky that The Ballroom Cafe is in their hands.
What do you think is the biggest myth about being a novelist?
That we sit with our feet up quaffing champagne waiting for inspiration. If there are authors like that out there, I would love to hear from them. For me it is impossibly early starts, lots of tea and toast and hard graft on the sentences with once in the blue moon inspiration setting the fingers flying across the keyboard. More often than not, it is 500 words on an empty stomach, before I can have a cuppa, another 500 words to earn my toast and yet another hard worked 500 words before the biscuit tin is an option.
What advice can you give to our readers who want to write a novel of their own?
Make time. Writers come up with all sorts of excuses as to why they can't sit down and write. Really, you just have to steal the time and get on with it. It doesn't matter if you don't have an up to date lap top; a desk or even a private space. All you need is a comfy seat- you are going to be in it a lot - and something to write on, laptop or longhand, and away you go. Keep the bottle of champagne for much later when you land a book deal.
What are you working on at the moment?
I am working on my second novel – Monsoon Tears – which is based in Ireland and India. I lived in India at one time, so it is a wonderful journey back for me, but my lips are sealed on saying anything else about it.
Thanks, Ann!
The journalist is usually only interested in here and now; the bald facts and fulfilling the next deadline. The journalist thinks in sound bites, paragraphs, small word counts, simple explanations of complex matters as deadlines bear down.When you “hammer out a story” as they used to say in the old days, it is with a certainty and determined push to make the page.The characters shouting in my head.
How to Make Your Characters Dance by Ann O’Loughlin
Characters have a way of sneaking in to my head and setting up home.
First a germ of an idea takes root, constantly agitating making me wonder could I pull a story from here. But it is when the characters start talking that the fingers can do the walking across the keyboard.
Some writers use story boards, plaster walls with notes or fill notebooks full of interesting phrases and ideas to use at an appropriate time. Some writers sketch a picture of their characters with words. They even know before they write the first line of chapter one their main characters, the traits, foibles and eccentricities that will make them stand out. They also know the storyline and all the minor characters who weave their way through the pages of the book. Some writers are extra lucky; they even know the ending.
How I wish it was like that for me. But it is not. The story; the characters and the twists and turns; all of it rattles inside my head, competing for my attention, only revealing themselves as we move along, getting the first words down.
If the idea is going to work, the characters lead the way designing their own destinies, only giving me the satisfaction that when they are shouting the most and bossing me senseless, do I get my best writing done.
It was like that all the way through The Ballroom Café. First Ella O’Callaghan appeared; that stubborn, gentle, proud woman who loved her home Roscarbury Hall, Rathsorney, Co Wicklow and would do anything to stop the bank repossessing it. When she walked with a jizz on her, I felt the straight intensity in her back and when she felt an overwhelming sadness as she stopped at the grave of her husband and child; I felt the weight of the personal tragedy sitting so heavily on her shoulders.
Ella and her sister Roberta had not spoken in decades. They only communicated through short, sharp and often harsh notes, but a mountain of hurt was behind the terse, silent communication. It was up to me to help unfold the past and show what had destroyed this once loving sisterly love. Roberta, who carried big handbags and swigged sherry most of the day needled her way in to my head through her caustic observations about her sister and the notes she slapped down on the hall table. But it was also clear that raw pain and hurt had made her this way. When Ella starts a café in the upstairs ballroom to bring in some desperately needed cash, Roberta is furious.
In to this café one days walks American, Debbie Kading. Hiding her own secrets she spoke to me in a quieter but equally forceful way, making me delve in to why she so desperately needed to trace her roots. She is looking for answers, but is met by a wall of silence at the local convent.
There is a main issue running through The Ballroom Café; the illegal and forced adoption of the babies of unmarried mothers from Ireland to the US. Not only are Debbie, Ella and Roberta forced to look in to their own hearts, but the whole country must face Ireland’s shameful past as the adoption scandal is uncovered.
But back to those characters…there are quite a few different ladies who gather at The Ballroom Café most days to chat and gossip over tea served in china cups. Muriel Hearty who runs the local post office is the loudest in the café throwing out her gossip. She was also one of the loudest in my head trying to grab her place in the limelight.
But it was in the rewriting after the first draft that all the characters began shouting some more. Ella needed a respite from the sadness and pain and introduced me to her vast collection of vintage Weiss brooches, she kept in silver boxes on her dressing table. Throughout the book she finds solace and refuge by unwrapping a brooch in this beautiful collection handed down from her own mother.
Roberta began to show her vulnerable side and Muriel Hearty completely lost the run of herself and had to be reined in. New characters asked to join and St Consuelo in the convent along with Sister Assumpta took on stronger roles making me see things from their perspective.
These characters became a second family to me and I was more than a little sad when I had to let go by writing those two words ‘The End’. It was like seeing your child off at the school gate on the first day at school; you know in your heart things will never be the same again. Several editing sessions later, the characters were happy and not shouting anymore, but satisfied their story had been told.
Anyway, a whole new group has started to squat in my head and I best rush off, because the characters in my second novel are kicking up a storm.
(c) Ann O’Loughlin
https://ajbookreviewclub.wordpress.com/?s=the+ballroom+cafe&submit=Go
PLEASE WELCOME THE AUTHOR OF THE BALLROOM CAFE ANN O’LOUGHLIN TO MY BLOG
ANN HAS ANSWERED A FEW QUESTIONS FOR ME
How did it feel when you found out The Ballroom Café was June Book of the Month on IrelandAM ?
I was absolutely thrilled and very excited. It meant I had to go and sit on the couch with Mark and Sinead and chat on TV3’s IrelandAM. That was a load of fun and they were great; they loved the book. Sinead told me her mother is reading it too! Anyone who wants to look back on the interview can find a few nice stills and the actual interview at http://annoloughlin.blogspot.ie/
Also if anybody wants, they can submit a 50 word review of the book and they might win a few a TV3 goody bag. Submit the review by Friday 26th June to irelandam@tv3.ie
Where did you get your idea for this wonderful book from?
I alway remember my father talking about these two women who lived in a big old house on the west coast of Ireland and they had not talked in decades… The image of the two of them going about the ordinary daily things and not even passing the time of day stuck in my head all these years… It was fitting when I sat down to write a novel, these women I have named Ella and Roberta O’Callaghan, should want centre stage. I wanted a book that would look at a serious issue but that everybody could relate to, so The Ballroom Cafewas born.
How did you research this book – you can tell you have done a lot?
There was a lot of research at different levels for The Ballroom Cafe. There was this whole issue of forced illegal adoption of the children of unmarried mothers from mother-and-baby homes/orphanages to the US. I listened to many of the accounts of these women, who are now elderly, and who lost their children this way. I was stuck by their dignity and the burden of shame society had placed on their shoulders, and their terrible loss. One of my nicer areas of research was the wonderful Weiss brooches,which Ella unwraps at various stages of the book. Weiss was a New York Jeweller back in the 50s and 60s and right up to the 70s. I fell in love with the vintage brooches the more research I did on them.
Do you like to make cakes yourself? What is your favourite one ?
I just love to bake. When I am not writing , it is what I like to do most to relax. In fact, all of the cakes featured in The Ballroom Cafe, I have baked myself. My favourite is the chocolate cake with the secret ingredient. It has been in my family for years… We don’t really know how it got in to our family – it seems quite fancy – but as soon as we have an occasion, the ground almonds are bought along with the best chocolate and the cake whipped up. The secret ingredient? You will just have to read The Ballroom Cafe to find out that one
Are any of the characters based on people you know ?
I think there is a bit of everyone I know in each character. They are not based on anybody in particular, but consider this: how else would writers pen believable characters?
Who was your favourite character and why ?
I love Ella, doesn’t everybody? But I think my favourite character has to be Ella’s sister Roberta. She swigs too much at the sherry and at the start of the book can be quite nasty in the notes she pens to her sister. But as you move through the book, you will see there is a weight of tragedy on her shoulders. It is also Roberta who changes the most and a person who can do that has to be admired.
Where do you like to write your books?
I like to sink into my big comfy armchair beside the french doors in the kitchen. I have a view of the gardens towards the mountains and I can hear the sea at the other side. There are no distractions and I can write away. I usually have a nice pot of tea by my side and I drink from a mug – the kids got it for me – which has The Ballroom Cafe cover on the side.
I loved your tag line ‘secrets can’t last forever ‘ was it hard to chose this?
The Ballroom Cafe is full of secrets. Isn’t life? There is another certainty after death and taxes, and that is that no secret can last forever. So it was just a matter of finding the words for it , ‘Secrets Can’t Last Forever.’
What made you want to write books ?
I love writing. I feel I got diverted into journalism all these years. Even when at school I was always scribbling stories. I have to write, otherwise I am decidedly grumpy!
Would you like to run a cafe yourself?
It is a very romantic notion, but honestly, I think it would be a lot of very hard work and if I did that, I would not write novels.
The mansion and the village sounded so real – did you base it on a real place?
I can picture Roscarbury Hall in my head so well that I am sure some day I will be driving down a road and go over a little bridge and it will be there waiting for me. Like eveyrbody else, I want to visit The Ballroom Cafe. But they are all in my imagination and maybe best left that way, or they might lose some of the magic!
Will there be a follow on to The Ballroom cafe?
Never say never. But I am working on my second novel at the moment and that is based in Ireland and India. My lips are sealed though, so don’t ask for any more information on that one
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HELP DOING THIS BOOK ANN HOPE YOUR BOOK SELL REAL WELL AS IT ONE OF MY BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR THANK YOU AMANDAJAYNE X |
ANN HAS ANSWERED A FEW QUESTIONS FOR ME
How did it feel when you found out The Ballroom Café was June Book of the Month on IrelandAM ?
I was absolutely thrilled and very excited. It meant I had to go and sit on the couch with Mark and Sinead and chat on TV3’s IrelandAM. That was a load of fun and they were great; they loved the book. Sinead told me her mother is reading it too! Anyone who wants to look back on the interview can find a few nice stills and the actual interview at http://annoloughlin.blogspot.ie/
Also if anybody wants, they can submit a 50 word review of the book and they might win a few a TV3 goody bag. Submit the review by Friday 26th June to irelandam@tv3.ie
Where did you get your idea for this wonderful book from?
I alway remember my father talking about these two women who lived in a big old house on the west coast of Ireland and they had not talked in decades… The image of the two of them going about the ordinary daily things and not even passing the time of day stuck in my head all these years… It was fitting when I sat down to write a novel, these women I have named Ella and Roberta O’Callaghan, should want centre stage. I wanted a book that would look at a serious issue but that everybody could relate to, so The Ballroom Cafewas born.
How did you research this book – you can tell you have done a lot?
There was a lot of research at different levels for The Ballroom Cafe. There was this whole issue of forced illegal adoption of the children of unmarried mothers from mother-and-baby homes/orphanages to the US. I listened to many of the accounts of these women, who are now elderly, and who lost their children this way. I was stuck by their dignity and the burden of shame society had placed on their shoulders, and their terrible loss. One of my nicer areas of research was the wonderful Weiss brooches,which Ella unwraps at various stages of the book. Weiss was a New York Jeweller back in the 50s and 60s and right up to the 70s. I fell in love with the vintage brooches the more research I did on them.
Do you like to make cakes yourself? What is your favourite one ?
I just love to bake. When I am not writing , it is what I like to do most to relax. In fact, all of the cakes featured in The Ballroom Cafe, I have baked myself. My favourite is the chocolate cake with the secret ingredient. It has been in my family for years… We don’t really know how it got in to our family – it seems quite fancy – but as soon as we have an occasion, the ground almonds are bought along with the best chocolate and the cake whipped up. The secret ingredient? You will just have to read The Ballroom Cafe to find out that one
Are any of the characters based on people you know ?
I think there is a bit of everyone I know in each character. They are not based on anybody in particular, but consider this: how else would writers pen believable characters?
Who was your favourite character and why ?
I love Ella, doesn’t everybody? But I think my favourite character has to be Ella’s sister Roberta. She swigs too much at the sherry and at the start of the book can be quite nasty in the notes she pens to her sister. But as you move through the book, you will see there is a weight of tragedy on her shoulders. It is also Roberta who changes the most and a person who can do that has to be admired.
Where do you like to write your books?
I like to sink into my big comfy armchair beside the french doors in the kitchen. I have a view of the gardens towards the mountains and I can hear the sea at the other side. There are no distractions and I can write away. I usually have a nice pot of tea by my side and I drink from a mug – the kids got it for me – which has The Ballroom Cafe cover on the side.
I loved your tag line ‘secrets can’t last forever ‘ was it hard to chose this?
The Ballroom Cafe is full of secrets. Isn’t life? There is another certainty after death and taxes, and that is that no secret can last forever. So it was just a matter of finding the words for it , ‘Secrets Can’t Last Forever.’
What made you want to write books ?
I love writing. I feel I got diverted into journalism all these years. Even when at school I was always scribbling stories. I have to write, otherwise I am decidedly grumpy!
Would you like to run a cafe yourself?
It is a very romantic notion, but honestly, I think it would be a lot of very hard work and if I did that, I would not write novels.
The mansion and the village sounded so real – did you base it on a real place?
I can picture Roscarbury Hall in my head so well that I am sure some day I will be driving down a road and go over a little bridge and it will be there waiting for me. Like eveyrbody else, I want to visit The Ballroom Cafe. But they are all in my imagination and maybe best left that way, or they might lose some of the magic!
Will there be a follow on to The Ballroom cafe?
Never say never. But I am working on my second novel at the moment and that is based in Ireland and India. My lips are sealed though, so don’t ask for any more information on that one
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR HELP DOING THIS BOOK ANN HOPE YOUR BOOK SELL REAL WELL AS IT ONE OF MY BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR THANK YOU AMANDAJAYNE X | 
The Ballroom Cafe by Ann O’Loughlin – 10 Random Things Blog Tour Stop!
TEN RANDOM FACTS ABOUT THE BALLROOM CAFE
1. Did you know my favourite line comes very early in the book? In fact, it is on the second page. Ella O’Callaghan is facing down the snotty bank manager, who has threatened to repossess her treasured home Roscarbury Hall:“In all my prayerful life, I have never felt so crucified. I will die before I move out of Roscarbury Hall.”
2. Ella, when she bakes her lemon cakes, likes to let them cool on a grid on the big kitchen table, but straight after she has turned them out on the grid she gets an old knitting needle and pricks some holes along the cake before drizzling icing sugar mixed with lemon juice across the cake, careful to push it in to the holes.
3. Bowling Green, Ohio is a real place. I visited it many years ago. It had those lovely wooden houses with verandas at the front and a huge university complex.
4. Ella used her mother’s old china tea sets to serve tea and coffee in her Ballroom Café. Every now and again, Ella worried what her mother would think with the ladies of Rathsorney turning over her china cups to check their provenance.
5. Every spring there were swathes of yellow daffodils among the grass in the extensive parkland of the convent grounds. Pregnant girls waiting to give birth, many within days of delivery, had to go on their hands and knees in October and plant all those bulbs.
6. Ella’s chocolate cake has a secret ingredient but you will have to read the novel to find it.
7. The magnificent Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin, appears in one chapter of The Ballroom Café. There, Ella has tea and takes sugar from a silver bowl and milk from a silver jug.
8. Sisters Ella and Roberta O’Callaghan live separate lives; their own kettles, cookers and cupboards. They even have their own delph. Their food supplies are labelled.
9. Chuck Winters has a soft spot for Ella, admiring her cakes and baking skills, but she brushes off his advances. His eyes then settle on somebody else.
10. Ella loved the Weiss pansy brooch but the deep, dark green colour put her mother off. She could not understand why “a flower could not look like a flower.”
Baking my troubles Away by Ann O’Loughlin – Guest Post
Today’s I’m pleased to welcome Ann O’Loughlin, author of The Ballroom Café, to the blog.
Ann has written a wonderful piece on the soothing properties of baking.
BAKING MY TROUBLES AWAY
Some opt for a spa treatment; others walk the dog. I like to bake a cake.
While most of my friends walk their troubles away; I bake them away.
There is something so calming when you run flour through your fingers, measure out the sugar and whip up a cake.
So it was hardly surprising that some of my favourite cakes made it in to The Ballroom Cafe.
In fact, it was baking I turned to when the plot ground to a halt and the warring sisters Ella and Roberta O’Callaghan refused to do what they were told. Baking was my salvation when Muriel Hearty decided to have a sea change and forget to gossip and when May started to fret too much over her fruit cakes.
It was to baking I turned after writing the saddest scenes in The Ballroom Café, to clear my head and reassure myself that all was right with the world.
Ella O’Callaghan in The Ballroom Café finds the same solace in a baking session when times are tough.
Times get very tough for Ella and the bank threatens to repossess, so she set up a café in the upstairs ballroom, serving her scrumptious homemade cakes and tea in a china cup.
Ella not only loves baking, but is a natural at it. My mother loved to bake cakes too. She never seemed to have to take out a recipe book; it was all in her head. She always said if you kept key ingredients in the food cupboard, you would never be stuck.
Flour in those days came in large white cloth sacks and it was my job to scoop it out with a big metal scoop and weigh it.
I know now she only got me to set it on the scales to humour a young helper. She herself could throw the ingredients together and whip up a cake in no time.
We made lemon cakes, coffee cakes and the rich family chocolate cake for special occasions. The chocolate cake with ground almonds and good quality chocolate is my all time favourite. It features in The Ballroom Café. And no, I am not going to reveal the secret ingredient; you are going to have to read the novel to get to that one.
Back to baking proper, my one piece of advice which comes – you guessed it – courtesy of my mum.
“Concentrate, block out everything else, enjoy doing it and it will all show in the cake.”
She is right of course. Ever tried to bake when the world is wrong for you and unhappiness gurgles through you; you end up with a stodgy, flat offering. Be happy and make a nice, light, fluffy cake; it works all the time for me.
Ann has written a wonderful piece on the soothing properties of baking.
BAKING MY TROUBLES AWAY
Some opt for a spa treatment; others walk the dog. I like to bake a cake.
While most of my friends walk their troubles away; I bake them away.
There is something so calming when you run flour through your fingers, measure out the sugar and whip up a cake.
So it was hardly surprising that some of my favourite cakes made it in to The Ballroom Cafe.
In fact, it was baking I turned to when the plot ground to a halt and the warring sisters Ella and Roberta O’Callaghan refused to do what they were told. Baking was my salvation when Muriel Hearty decided to have a sea change and forget to gossip and when May started to fret too much over her fruit cakes.
It was to baking I turned after writing the saddest scenes in The Ballroom Café, to clear my head and reassure myself that all was right with the world.
Ella O’Callaghan in The Ballroom Café finds the same solace in a baking session when times are tough.
Times get very tough for Ella and the bank threatens to repossess, so she set up a café in the upstairs ballroom, serving her scrumptious homemade cakes and tea in a china cup.
Ella not only loves baking, but is a natural at it. My mother loved to bake cakes too. She never seemed to have to take out a recipe book; it was all in her head. She always said if you kept key ingredients in the food cupboard, you would never be stuck.
Flour in those days came in large white cloth sacks and it was my job to scoop it out with a big metal scoop and weigh it.
I know now she only got me to set it on the scales to humour a young helper. She herself could throw the ingredients together and whip up a cake in no time.
We made lemon cakes, coffee cakes and the rich family chocolate cake for special occasions. The chocolate cake with ground almonds and good quality chocolate is my all time favourite. It features in The Ballroom Café. And no, I am not going to reveal the secret ingredient; you are going to have to read the novel to get to that one.
Back to baking proper, my one piece of advice which comes – you guessed it – courtesy of my mum.
“Concentrate, block out everything else, enjoy doing it and it will all show in the cake.”
She is right of course. Ever tried to bake when the world is wrong for you and unhappiness gurgles through you; you end up with a stodgy, flat offering. Be happy and make a nice, light, fluffy cake; it works all the time for me.
http://www.jerasjamboree.co.uk/
Blog Tour : The Ballroom Cafe by Ann O'Loughlin | Vintage jewellery and memories
JJ is delighted to be the last stop on this blog tour today with a fabulous guest post from Ann.
The Ballroom Cafe is published by Black & White Publishing and is available to purchase in paperback and Kindle.
Sisters Ella and Roberta O'Callaghan haven't spoken for decades, torn apart by a dark family secret from their past. They both still live in the family's crumbling Irish mansion, communicating only through the terse and bitter notes they leave for each other in the hallway. But when their way of life is suddenly threatened by bankruptcy, Ella tries to save their home by opening a café in the ballroom – much to Roberta's disgust.
As the café begin to thrive, the sisters are drawn into a new battle when Debbie, an American woman searching for her birth mother, starts working at the Ballroom Café. Debbie has little time left but as she sets out to discover who she really is and what happened to her mother, she is met by silence and lies at the local convent. Determined to discover the truth, she begins to uncover an adoption scandal that will rock both the community and the warring sisters.
Powerful and poignant, The Ballroom Café is a moving story of love lost and found.
Ella O'Callagahan at key moments in The Ballroom Cafe unwraps a dazzling vintage brooch.
There is vintage jewellery and there is Weiss. There is something about the clarity and beauty of these pieces, just like our grandmothers used to wear.
The Ballroom Cafe is published by Black & White Publishing and is available to purchase in paperback and Kindle.
Sisters Ella and Roberta O'Callaghan haven't spoken for decades, torn apart by a dark family secret from their past. They both still live in the family's crumbling Irish mansion, communicating only through the terse and bitter notes they leave for each other in the hallway. But when their way of life is suddenly threatened by bankruptcy, Ella tries to save their home by opening a café in the ballroom – much to Roberta's disgust.
As the café begin to thrive, the sisters are drawn into a new battle when Debbie, an American woman searching for her birth mother, starts working at the Ballroom Café. Debbie has little time left but as she sets out to discover who she really is and what happened to her mother, she is met by silence and lies at the local convent. Determined to discover the truth, she begins to uncover an adoption scandal that will rock both the community and the warring sisters.
Powerful and poignant, The Ballroom Café is a moving story of love lost and found.
Weiss vintage brooches all the way from New York city.
Ella O'Callagahan at key moments in The Ballroom Cafe unwraps a dazzling vintage brooch.
There is vintage jewellery and there is Weiss. There is something about the clarity and beauty of these pieces, just like our grandmothers used to wear.
To me, they have always been the epitome of style. I first came across Weiss when I was very young. A grandaunt in the United States, Kate, would twice a year send a big parcel full of delights to our home in the west of Ireland.
When we had pulled off the plain brown wrapping papers, we found a box of exotic treasure. It was full of fancy silk and satin clothes we were never going to wear. Wrapped in layers of tissue papers at the very centre of the parcel was always a piece of sparkling jewellery.
Sometimes it was a necklace, its deep colours glistening, or perhaps a bracelet – and more often than not, a brooch. Kate had an amazing life in the States and spent her time – or so we thought –dressing up for smart occasions. She regularly wore blue and pink satin sleeveless dresses with dinky matching coats. Fake fur coats were pulled out of the box and used for us children dressing up, along with the cutest handbags with sharp claps. Once every so often, Kate sent a jewellery box which my mother then kept on her dressing table, holding the beautiful jewellery another woman had given away.
The vintage costume jewellery was sent back to Ireland; the story was that Kate kept diamonds in her safe. Sometimes, when I thought my mother was not looking, I stole in to the jewellery boxes on her dressing table to try on these rich, fanciful pieces of jewellery, stones flashing in the light. My favourite brooches were simple circles of crystals or those shaped like a delicate flower.
The Weiss jewellery company founded by Albert Weiss traded in to the 1970s, but had its heyday some time in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Weiss sold different lines for different pockets, but there is no mistaking the quality. My favourite brooch has to be the first one that Ella puts on her left lapel of her blue wing coat.
“Nine balls of Montana blue crystals in a simple circle setting. Her mother had only worn it on special occasions. There wasn’t another one like it, she told her daughter and Ella believed it.”
All vintage jewellery brings with it the memories of times past. For me, the Weiss brooches and the posh necklaces churn up happy memories of times past.
When we had pulled off the plain brown wrapping papers, we found a box of exotic treasure. It was full of fancy silk and satin clothes we were never going to wear. Wrapped in layers of tissue papers at the very centre of the parcel was always a piece of sparkling jewellery.
Sometimes it was a necklace, its deep colours glistening, or perhaps a bracelet – and more often than not, a brooch. Kate had an amazing life in the States and spent her time – or so we thought –dressing up for smart occasions. She regularly wore blue and pink satin sleeveless dresses with dinky matching coats. Fake fur coats were pulled out of the box and used for us children dressing up, along with the cutest handbags with sharp claps. Once every so often, Kate sent a jewellery box which my mother then kept on her dressing table, holding the beautiful jewellery another woman had given away.
The vintage costume jewellery was sent back to Ireland; the story was that Kate kept diamonds in her safe. Sometimes, when I thought my mother was not looking, I stole in to the jewellery boxes on her dressing table to try on these rich, fanciful pieces of jewellery, stones flashing in the light. My favourite brooches were simple circles of crystals or those shaped like a delicate flower.
The Weiss jewellery company founded by Albert Weiss traded in to the 1970s, but had its heyday some time in the late 1940s and 1950s.
Weiss sold different lines for different pockets, but there is no mistaking the quality. My favourite brooch has to be the first one that Ella puts on her left lapel of her blue wing coat.
“Nine balls of Montana blue crystals in a simple circle setting. Her mother had only worn it on special occasions. There wasn’t another one like it, she told her daughter and Ella believed it.”
All vintage jewellery brings with it the memories of times past. For me, the Weiss brooches and the posh necklaces churn up happy memories of times past.
Thank you for sharing some personal memories Ann.
The Kindle format of The Ballroom Cafe is available at an introductory price of 49p!
I'm looking forward to escaping in this world. I was excited to receive my review copy looking like this :) Thank you B&W.
A leading journalist in Ireland for nearly thirty years, Ann O'Loughlin has covered all major news events of the last three decades. Ann spent most of her career with independent newspapers where she was Security Correspondent at the height of The Troubles, and was a senior journalist on the Irish Independent and Evening Herald. She is currently a senior journalist with the Irish Examiner newspaper covering legal issues. Ann has also lived and worked in India. Originally from the west of Ireland she now lives on the east coast with her husband and two children.
The cover of The Ballroom Cafe
To be published June 18, 2015.
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