This short production was written, directed and filmed by Film Revolution.
I am thrilled to have had the opportunity to talk to Noel about myself and my book, Secrets in the Babby House, and the upcoming sequel.
It’s a fantastic feeling watching my main characters come to life on screen, even if it is only YouTube. I think they all did an amazing job portraying my fictional darlings!
Secrets in the Babby House is available on Amazon. Paperback and eBook.
Set in a gossipy small town in Ireland at a time when marriage is for keeps and sexuality is repressed, Secrets in the Babby House is a family saga over three decades that starts in 1956. It is a story of love, deception, and stolen diaries filled with sins and secrets.
Flossie Lynch is heartbroken when her only love, Frank Connolly, marries another. So when John O’Malley—the well-off catch of the parish—proposes to her, she resigns herself to a marriage of convenience, hoping to learn to love him. For John, Flossie is mostly a respectable wife and caring mother to their son—and the perfect façade for his dark secret. But bloody Frank Connolly and his blackmailing wife are making things difficult for him. Another victim of his jealous wife’s abusive behaviour, Frank stays in his loveless marriage for the sake of his two wee girls. He turns his childhood fort into a babby house to give them a refuge from their cruel mother. But for Frank, there is no refuge. When Flossie rekindles her friendship with Frank, she tries desperately to save him from a life of misery and promises to always look out for his daughters. As the two star-crossed lovers near a second chance, tragedy strikes, forcing Flossie to make good on her promise—while attempting to protect her husband and son. But as long as there’s a Connolly with a score to settle, there is no escape from the past and no promises for the future.
I accidently came across Kiun B – on YouTube and I spent a whole evening watching her videos. She lives in Yakutsk, the coldest city on Earth.
In Yakutsk, everything is a chore during the winter because of the severe weather. In one particular video, a young boy gets up very early to top up the fire with logs because if the fire goes out the house can get extremely cold. Many homes don’t have a plumbing system. They have to melt giant blocks of ice for water, and they use outhouses and pit toilets. It takes hours to prepare the bathhouse, so baths are only once a week.
Even owning a car is a huge challenge so most people use public transport. Apart from the dangerous driving conditions, some car owners are known to keep the engine running constantly to stop it from freezing. Some use a portable insulated garage, which is like a huge quilt that completely covers the car. To keep the car from cooling down, a rubber pipe is used to vent the exhaust gas. These covers take ten or fifteen minutes to put on every time the car is parked.
Some fit parking heaters to their engines and some use timers that turn the engine on and off automatically. Oh, they have to constantly pump their tyres too. I think I’d be happier getting the bus.
Their summers are short and that’s when they prepare for their long cold winters ahead.
The one thing that truly amazes me about the people living here is how little they complain about their winter weather. They just get on with life regardless of how cold it is. They continue to go to work and school closes only when the temperature drops to −56°C. They dress up and go out socialising. They can’t be outdoors for longer than fifteen minutes, so there’s no dilly dallying.
In Ireland, the schools close when it gets too windy or if the roads get too icy. We’re just not set up or prepared for harsh weather, which is fairly mild compared to what some countries get. People here complain constantly about the weather. It’s a topic of conversation nearly every day of the week. You would think that we’d have accepted our weather for what it is. We can’t change it, but we can dress appropriately for it, go out in it, and even enjoy it.
The coldest temperature ever recorded in Ireland was −19.1°C and that was in 1881. In 2010 we had -17.5°. In 2025 the lowest we had to endure was −4.4°C
Even our coldest days are warmer than they used to be.
Learning about life in Yakutsk makes me complain less about our cold, damp weather here in Ireland. It’s not so bad, really, but… if we had nice summers, maybe the winters wouldn’t bother us so much.
Is there an age or year of your life you would re-live?
This is a difficult question because there are many I’d like to re-live.
If I had to make a choice, I’d re-live my late 30s. I became the best version of myself during that time. It was also when I met my husband.
We’ve been together 20 years and we’ve just celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary. I would relive any year and age spent with him. Stephen truly is one of a kind!
This one caught my eye this morning as I scrolled through my gallery.
Indigo; the colour of integrity and intuition. It’s a colour I’m drawn to in general, but the golden tree has me curious. It’s a magical scene, and together with the title, it gives the impression that this is a fantasy novel.
The blurb paints a vivid and enticing preview of the story. I also read a few sample pages, and the writing is impressive, which is just as important as an eye-catching cover and an intriguing blurb.
The Blurb
He left them for dead. Now he’s their only hope.
Big Walter doesn’t want to be a hero anymore. He spent his youth prowling through the dark, and punching back whatever crawled out of it. Of course, he had friends then—a one-eared do-gooder, a serpent-tongued fire mage, the town belle, and a scab-kneed night elf—all guarding their Midwestern town of New Haven. Before they all fell apart. Before Walter had enough of being the big, dumb brute. Before he left, and finally found peace.
But now, something is calling him home. The darkness has grown stronger, New Haven is undefended, and worst of all, Walter can hear his friends screaming in his mind. But going back means more than trudging through the icy winter and the slithering night. He must return to his youth, relive the joys of friendship and community, and suffer old heartaches anew. Only then can he answer the hard questions: what really happened to those blissful years? What’s waiting for him out in the darkness?
And is there enough time to set it right?
Goldenguard has received some excellent reviews on Amazon and Goodreads.
This book is like literary fiction accidentally stumbled into a magic shop. The way the author casually weaves magic into the mundane as if it’s part of a grocery list is expertly done, and I have more “oooh that was good!” lines written down than I can count.
This isn’t a typical action-packed fantasy novel, so make sure you’re in a cozy mood when you sit down to read this book, but I promise you it’s worth your time.
Cole on Amazon ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ What a delight!
This book was a delight. A great story about deep and meaningful friendship with amazing characters that would appeal to anyone, but especially if you are from somewhere small, this book will speak to you on a deeper level too. As someone who moved away from my small town and moved back, I have felt so many of Walter’s emotions, but I hope like Walter maybe I have finally learned what it really means to be big.
I very much enjoyed my time with this book, and was surprised to take away some self reflection as well, definitely highly recommend!
I LOVED this book. A sure sign I’ll be re-reading something is when the well of emotion and action at the climax makes me tear up – and without and spoilers, I sure will be re-reading this.
First off, I am a sucker for the 20s/30s setting – this book not only nails the time period but also perfectly encapsulates the feeling of small-town America at the same time.
The magic in this story is rich, exciting, and full of adventure – just the right blend for me along the spectrum of soft and hard with plenty of mystery but plenty we get to learn and see along the way.
Speaking of mystery, the plot delivers that wonderfully – I was hooked as everything unfolded, the first chapter was a perfect hook and I found myself flipping back multiple times as story developments recontextualized what we had seen so far.
Finally, all of the characters are delightful. I love Walter, Di, Quill, Mary, and John each for different reasons and could go on for ages. The biggest thing I will say is how genuine everybody feels. I found myself feeling and understanding every decision (good and bad) that folks made because it just felt RIGHT. This was particularly the case for Walter due to him being the point of view but this very much goes for everybody.
Outstanding book and I’ll absolutely be looking out for future Blaylock stories!
Easily one of my new favorites. What if you took a coming of age story and set it in a small town in the 1920s with memorable human characters and oh yeah throw in a half-giant protagonist who learns friendship and heartache while fighting demon Darkmist that come out in the night? You get one incredible read. Olden-days vibe mixed with fantasy and a strong redemptive undertone. I’ve never read anything like this. Oh and from a writing standpoint, this has some of the most beautiful imagery/metaphors and impacting dialogue I’ve ever read. I legit underlined some of my favorite sentences after I soaked them in 10 times in a row. How can he say so much in such few words?
I’m not surprised this reviewer commented on the quality of writing. As previously noted, it stood out to me immediately from the first page of the sample. I don’t often read fantasy, but I’m very tempted to give this a go.
Have a look through the sample pages and see if it grabs your attention. It might just be your next favourite read.
Thank you for reading. See you soonwith more from Judge a Book by its Cover!
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Gloria McBreen 