Blog Tour: The Things I Should Have Told You by Carmel Harrington

Every family has a story…

But for the Guinness family a happy ending looks out of reach. Olly and Mae's marriage is crumbling, their teenage daughter Evie is on a mission to self-destruct and their beloved Pops is dying of cancer. Their once strong family unit is slowly falling apart.

But Pops has one final gift to offer his beloved family – a ray of hope to cling to. As his life's journey draws to a close, he sends his family on an adventure across Europe in a camper van, guided by his letters, his wisdom and his love.

Because Pops knows that all his family need is time to be together, to find their love for each other and to find their way back home…

Guest post by Carmel Harrington

Sometimes I need complete silence when I write without the distraction of music. I need to lose myself in the world I’m creating. 

But there are times when I need music on in the background, to keep me company while I pound the keyboard. Song has the ability to move me, to inspire me, to help unleash my creative inner goddess, when she’s reluctant to come out to play! And in each of my books, music plays a part of the characters journey’s, in some way or another.

In The Things I Should Have Told You, I’ve been told that Chapter 17 is the one that gets readers crying the ugly cry. When I wrote those scenes, I played a song over and over, to help me dig deep with my characters, as they discover Normandy in France.

This song is The Green Fields of France, that I heard often as a child, sung by my father. Whilst working on my first rewrite of my story, it struck me that I should include this song in the chapter. Including it, made a good chapter special. In fact, when we launched this book in Wexford, a dear friend, George Lawlor, sang it for us and it’s a moment that I’ll never forget.

Over the years I’ve accumulated my ideal playlist, quite eclectic but to me, perfect. It includes the Green Fields of France and songs from Josh Groban, Etta James, Ella Fitzgerald, Adele, Eva Cassidy, Michael Buble and many more. The thing each song shares is melody and lyrics that can move me to smile, to cry, to remember.
I’ve pulled it all together for you all, in one spottily link …
https://open.spotify.com/user/11142926318/playlist/7C47Ghzm0v5SqpjiZfq8QF

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do,
Carmel