“I’ve known this story since the very first draft. And yet, when it was finished, I read it all the way through holding my breath.” - Kate Marlowe, editor
Siobhan's Pearl
Novel
There comes a point in a person’s life when the question is no longer where to go
next — but whether it ever made sense not to leave sooner.
Paddy O’Connor is a blacksmith with a settled life. He has work, a family, a past.
And yet one morning he wakes to the unsettling feeling that something inside him has fallen silent.
A melody. An inner voice that once guided him — and now calls him back onto the road.
This is the chronicle of a northern journey. Of stories that are not always
true. Of legends shaped by loss and longing. Of songs once sung — and perhaps still waiting
to be heard. Throughout the novel, forgotten Irish folk melodies emerge alongside the
narrative, woven into the story like echoes from the past, accompanying each step of the way.
“Peter asked me to come up with a motto for the book. I suggested this:
‘Be careful what you ask of the fair folk. Because you might get it.’ He looked at me
— and typed it straight into the manuscript. I think that’s when we knew we had found the heart of the story.”
— Kate Marlowe, editor
Siobhan’s Pearl is a work of magical realism about faith and doubt, memory and homecoming.
A novel that suggests the journey we fear most is not the one that leads away — but the one
that brings us back to where we first learned how to listen.
A little more than twenty-five years ago, circumstances arranged themselves
in such a way that I had to drive halfway across Europe. Back then, our phones did not carry
the entire musical history of the world in their pockets, so my options were limited.
I could either listen to whatever radio stations each country saw fit to broadcast—every
single one of them was dreadful—or I could slip a CD into the player, provided
I found one in the glove compartment.
My choice fell on an Irish folk compilation containing songs like The Nightingale, The Unknown Soldier and,
of course, the eternally indestructible classic, Whiskey in the Jar. The music played, and I sang
along—loudly, as one does when driving long distances. And then, quite suddenly, I realised I had
begun writing new lyrics to the songs—and around those lyrics, a story started to weave itself.
The story of Paddy O'Connor, the wandering blacksmith.
(My incomparable accomplices:
the Irish Grain Band)
At the time I was working as head of communications at an art school, and I persuaded a few
equally half-mad music teachers to learn the songs. Once we had them ready, we began performing
them in concert. I took the role of narrator—because I possess a modest but healthy amount of
self-awareness, and I know perfectly well that, with my singing voice, I could empty an entire
cave of bats in under ten seconds. Fortunately, neither the band nor the audience ever expressed
any desire to hear me sing.
About a year ago, during a house move, I stumbled upon a recording of one of those concerts.
There is no CD player left in my household, so listening to it required a certain amount of
ingenuity—but in the end, I managed. And the story of the wandering blacksmith crept back
into my mind once more.
New songs were born, the old ones found new clothes, and the tale itself grew—until, eventually,
it became a book. This book.
Songs
In 2026, the Irish Grain Band created the musical material for Peter
Radley's fantasy novel Siobhan's Pearl.
Here you’ll find a selection of videos made for the songs, and at the bottom of the page a
link leading to the separately released music album.
The songs of the novel were also released as a standalone album, distributed by DistroKid.
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