Author looks at life and death in workhouse

Danny McFaul, who now lives in England, has penned a number of books relating to his family’s history, delving deep into his own past to shed light on previous generations of McFaul’s who called Larne their home.

And he has now published his first work of fiction, entitled ‘Life in the Dreaded Workhouse”.

The idea for the novel came about following Danny’s research on his Victorian ancestors, which revealed that several of them had to commit to the workhouse regime, as many working class families had to in those days.

This prompted him to find out more about the workhouses and he became quite versed in the purpose of their existence and the many stories that are told about them.

It will come as no surprise that the story is set in a fictional town called Larne.

Danny told the Times: “The main character Kirk was born in this fictional town of Larne and sadly his mother died only minutes after Kirk was born.

“Kirk remained in the workhouse for the first 14 years of his life. He went through the rest of his life haunted by shame and guilt as he thought that he should have been the one to die and not his mother.”

The book can be found at www.lulu.com or in book shops for £12.99. All royalties will to go to Age NI.