Inside: County Kildare
An interview with our COO and author Bailey Kennedy
This is a segment of Read the North where we aim to celebrate storytelling and craftsmanship from coast to coast to coast. Explore literary voices and discover how reading the North feels a little richer together.
What happens when you slow down, get quiet and let your imagination take over? Stories are born. Read on to hear about January’s book club choice author Bailey Kennedy and get a look inside the writing process of County Kildare.
Bailey Kennedy was born and raised in southwestern Ontario but spent many years traveling and gaining work experience across Canada, the US and the UK. She now lives in Guelph, Ontario with her family where she spends her days writing, working on By The North and spending as much time as possible outside. we sat down to dive into the process behind her debut novel, County Kildare.
Q: Where did the idea for County Kildare come from?
A: The plot for County Kildare was loosely inspired by my own mother’s journey to find her birth mother as an adult. As the main character Maeve experiences in the novel, her birth records were also sealed until the 2010’s until a legislation passed in Ontario allowing adoptive children to access information on their birth parents. Until then, there had been a law in place that sealed all adoptive records of children born between the late 1950’s and 1980’s (the dates differed by province). During that time some institutions were taking babies away from unwed mothers and some young women were being placed in homes for unwed mothers to wait out their births. When the children were given up for adoption during those times, they sealed the records so that the mothers and children could never find each other. Having heard from my mother her experience from the perspective of the child who never knew what happened to her mother or where she came from, I wanted to write a story from both perspectives of the mother and child.
Q: You write in-depth about the novel’s setting, both In Guelph, Ontario and in County Kildare, Ireland, why were these places important to you?
A: I moved to Guelph a few years ago when I moved in with my now husband. New to the city, I was curious about its roots and found myself delving deep into the history of it. I was also specifically interested in The Church of Our Lady Immaculate in Guelph. This Church sits at the top of the high street in Guelph and the city bylaws are set in place so that from no point in the city can a building be built higher than the church so you can always see it. While the church itself is stunning, it also holds personal significance for me. This church was where my grandparents got married in the 1940’s and it’s where my husband proposed to me. It is a very special place, and it’s known to be one of the most impressive works of Irish architect Joseph Connelly-and there was my Irish connection that I could weave into the story.
County Kildare is the actual county that my mother’s birth mother was from, so naturally it felt like the right place for the character to end up.
Q: Can you walk us through your writing process? What does a typical writing session look like for you?
A: I love all parts of the writing process! From the research, to character development, plotting the novel and writing the scenes- its an all encompassing process that allows me to learn so much and get lost in a story. I start with an idea, and usually ruminate on it for months while I’m out for a walk or laying in bed at night. I have a document with a dozen story concepts I am eager to turn into manuscripts. I then figure out the characters and plot out the book before I dive in. When I am writing a manuscript, I challenge myself to write 1000 words a day so I can get a first draft done in 2-3 months. I then go back through and edit and revise until I get to a point where it is ready for professional editing.
Q: Do aspects of your own life or emotional experiences find their way into your characters?
A: Absolutely. In order to write a feeling or experience, you have to have lived it in some way. Whether through your own experience, through your parents, friends, family, or watching someone else experience something. When I write, first I envision the scene in my head playing out like a movie so when I write it down I’m already feeling those feelings of the characters and trying to portray them in words that feel as close as possible to turn that on in the reader.
Q: Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?
A: Yes! I have always been drawn to the arts, and always had a wild imagination. I was a competitive dancer growing up, and my uncle was an actor in Los Angeles. He would sit with me and read scripts and act them out with me. He took me along to auditions and acting classes. The writing bug started young but I think it was born from those experiences of watching a story transform people, both on and off the page that drove home the obsession with storytelling.
Q: What are you most proud of when it comes to this book?
A: The impact it has on people, or the connection they have to the story. The coolest thing for me to see are people’s reviews, or readers reaching out from all over the world to say how much they resonated with the story, or it moved them, or they felt the emotion of the character. That to me is really special.
Q: Are there any other books in the works?
A: Yes! Stay tuned!
If you are interested in reading County Kildare it is available for purchase here. or you can check out www.baileykennedy.ca for more information.
TWO TIMELINES. TWO WOMEN. ONE TRUTH THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING.
"Two women, two generations, one story of love and sacrifice. County Kildare is about the families we lose, the ones we choose, and the bonds we can never break.”
In the summer of 2011, Maeve Grisham is a journalist restless for a story that matters. When new legislation reveals the name of her birth mother, she is thrust into an investigation that is both deeply personal and profoundly political. Her search leads her into the shadowed world of mother-and-baby homes and institutions that tore families apart for decades.
Across the ocean and a generation earlier, in 1984 County Kildare, sixteen-year-old Fiona Grisham finds herself in love for the first time. But when her pregnancy takes her away from home, she is left with no choices of her own.
Spanning two timelines and two countries, County Kildare is a story of resilience, silence, and secrets long buried. It asks what it means to belong: to a place, to a family, and to ourselves. With themes of motherhood, love, and sacrifice at its heart, this debut novel offers readers an intimate glimpse into one of Canada’s darkest histories—while exploring the unbreakable bonds that connect us across generations.
Perfect for readers who love:
Dual-timeline historical fiction
Novels about mothers and daughters
Stories of family secrets and redemption
Emotional, book club–worthy reads
If you enjoy deeply moving, character-driven stories that stay with you long after the last page, County Kildare belongs on your shelf.
Novel County Kildare by B.E. Kennedy