Take a spooky stroll down Perdition Street

FRIDAY the 13th is considered the unluckiest day in the calendar. However, that won’t be the case for former Strabane Chronicle journalist Leona O’Neill who is on the verge of publishing her latest supernatural novel, which delves into the world of Heaven and Hell and redemption.

Entitled ‘Perdition Street’ the story follows troubled Dublin private investigator and ‘soul binder’ Atlas Bishop. By day he works the streets of the capital whilst dealing with anxiety and anger issues and the ghost of his dead mother, by night working for the ‘Sacred,’ binding murdered souls to those who took their lives so that Hell can claim its dues.

“I’m really excited to get the new book out to readers,” Leona enthused. “My first book ‘Emerald Witch’, which also deals with the supernatural and set in Donegal, was a self-published novel but, for ‘Perdition Street’ I went down the traditional route. I often post to social media about my writing so that followers see what I’m up to and, I was contacted by the acquisitions manager at Quill & Crow, a US-based gothic publisher wo asked me for the first three chapters of the book, which I had just completed, and then they asked for the full manuscript; it all took off from there,” commented Leona.

The book has been in Leona’s head for almost a decade. As she explained, “I first began writing this story when I was doing my English degree around nine years ago. The characters were completely different but the plot was the same. I went back to it during a turbulent time in my life; dealing with Covid and having been stood beside Lyra McKee on the night she was murdered. Witnessing that event gave me PTSD, which I didn’t know I had, so l ate into my creative side and began writing this story about someone who makes bad guys pay for their misdeeds. Years of dealing with people as a journalist, people who may have had loved ones taken from them in tragic circumstances, unable to get closure; that’s what was in my mind as I wrote ‘Perdition Street.’

“It was a similar situation when I wrote Emerald Witch; I wrote that just after my father (former St Colman’s history teacher Willie Breslin) died so retreated into writing as a source of therapy; grief is a strong emotion that takes hold in these situations. First a witch and now a soul binder – I think I’m just drawn to writing the supernatural plus, as anyone who knows me from my St Colman’s days, all purple hair and eyeliner, knows I have a goth side, growing up reading Stephen King and Anne Rice.”

‘Perdition Street’ is released on Friday 13th and is available in Waterstones and Amazon for pre-order.