About Turn
by
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On Monday morning, Sorcha was feeling the effects of a late night as she sat on the bus taking her to work. She had noticed Dani had left the company to take up another job but there were plenty of familiar faces around. Denise had been sitting upstairs and they walked to the buildings together. Denise worked upstairs in the next block of offices as part of the
“Where was this?”
Denise mentioned one of the hotels off
James was in the kitchen that evening cooking dinner and someone Sorcha had never met was sitting at the table, reading the evening paper. “Sorcha, this is Yves, he’s just moved in next door with his girlfriend. He works for your company.” There followed a brief description of how James had met Yves when he had come in to open a bank account. He had recognised the address and they had started chatting.
Yves had recently graduated from college with a degree in business and had been encouraged to move to
“I have been trying to get her something within the company but she doesn’t have a work visa yet. So we’re just living on one salary, mine, at the moment.”
“You don’t know of anything that’s available in any of the areas? I told him you were in the personnel department,” James said, apologetically.
“Oh, I don’t know. I can have a word if you want,” Sorcha said.
“Well, we’ll feed you then,” James joked, and handed her a plate of food. It was fried potatoes and gammon steaks and she took some.
“I’m easily bribed,” she said.
Yves was looking through the adverts and smiled faintly. “We are renting a double room next door at the moment,” he said. “The flats here are so expensive. One guy I spoke to was asking for £800 for a one-bedroom flat and that would be reasonable at this stage.”
Sorcha took the paper and looked through the listings. She knew some of the areas and saw an apartment in Karen’s complex with rent at over a grand. She pointed it out to the guys. “I know some people renting here, and this place was four hundred a month when they moved in two years ago,” she exclaimed. “I think I’ve been too afraid to look but some of these rents have shot up.”
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About the Book
The educated, well-travelled John Xavier travels from his continental base to set up a European business centre in
Sorcha Cassidy is a new hire to the HR department, having left her low-paid charity job in town, attracted by the possibilities. She joins careerists looking for a bright future and moves out to the developing suburbs. Sorcha starts to become distanced from the life she knew before as she becomes immersed in the new culture.
Courtney, an American with connections to the company, has arrived to set up home with her Irish husband and they rent an apartment in the area. Sorcha’s neighbours are a Polish and French couple hoping to have a family life in the new country. There are also countless Europeans and Irish locals taking their chance on a bright future.
The initial start up bonhomie is short-lived as the parent company announces financial trouble and major cutbacks. The management team slowly fractures and Sorcha’s already busy schedule is increased. The combination of work and lack of a personal life hits her hard.
Her family history and a concern about making her life work obliges her to do an ‘about turn’ and reconsider her situation. Religion does not provide any answers and she finds herself attracted to the burgeoning anti-capitalist movement. A trip to the
About the Author
Born in 1973, I have always enjoyed stories, characters and language. I moved to Dublin in the early 1990s to study sociology. About Turn is my first foray into novel writing although it has been an ambition of mine for some years. I have a qualification in journalism and have previously written for a number of magazines including The Big Issues and have also tried short story writing. My main influences would be Barbara Ehrenreich, civil rights movement and biography. I would consider this work to be the first of at least two novels that are based in