It’s Meet the Author Monday! Each week we meet a new author and get to know a little about them, their writing process, publishing experience, and tips for other writers. Today we’re talking to Michelle Dunne, author of The Invisible.
About Michelle Dunne:
Born and raised in the harbour town of Cobh, Co Cork, Michelle joined in Irish army at the age of 18, where she went from recruit, to infantry soldier, to Peacekeeper with the UN, to one of the first female instructors back home in Ireland.
During her time in Lebanon, tracer rounds lit up the sky above her and artillery rained down, while she got to experience first-hand the camaraderie between soldiers and the sense of humour that got them all through some frightening situations. She also got to see how ordinary families tried to live in conflict zones and these experiences have inspired so much of her work to date.
The Invisible is Michelle’s fourth book, but the second in The Lindsey Ryan series, following on from While Nobody Is Watching, which is currently in development for television. Michelle is represented by WGM Talent and Literary Group and has publishers in the UK and USA. She is currently working on her fifth book, Playing the Game, a thriller set in an Irish UN Peacekeeping camp.
Michelle is also the organiser of the inaugural Spike Island Literary Festival, which took place in September 2022.
About The Invisible:
A migrant crisis. A corrupt harbor town. Who will stand for those who have become invisible to the rest of the world?
People have become one of the world’s most valuable commodities. Trafficked on the promise of a new life only to be hidden away as modern-day slaves. When Lena, a raped and badly beaten Syrian woman, literally falls into Lindsey Ryan’s life, she’s left with no choice but to find her part in this new war and play it as best she can.
But before she can work out a safe plan to get Lena away from her very own hell at the hands of Patrick Adebayo, Lindsey hears of an unconscious child being smuggled into Patrick’s building just two doors up. Despite having Patrick’s unwanted attention, she has to help the child and get Lena to safety regardless of the cost. In doing so, she finds herself face to face with the worst of humanity.
Added to her own private battle with PTSD, former soldier Lindsey Ryan is in a race against time and must once again fight for her life. But if she fails to protect those around her, what if anything, will that life be worth?