It was during one of her regular visits back to Belfast from the north-east of England that the idea first came to Mary Larkin of writing a novel.
She was in her fifties by this time and by her own admission, had left school at 14 to work in a mill, joking that she could “barely write a letter, never mind a book”.
But walking along Royal Avenue with her sister Sue, and talking about how she barely recognised the city of her youth, the conversation turned to why no-one had written any books about life in old Belfast.
“A void needed filling and Sue threw down the challenge, saying that if anyone could do it, I could,” she recalled.
“On my return to Darlington, the idea started niggling at my mind and the urge grew so compelling that I began jotting down notes and ideas on a writing pad.
“One pad turned into 12 pads before I realised that I had the makings of a fair-sized book before me.”
Those jottings would become The Wasted Years, a story of love, longing and family loyalties against the background of Belfast during the Second World War.
After just a couple of attempts, a publisher was found and the book was released in 1992, to be followed by a series of other novels which would attain best-seller status in Northern Ireland as the author struck a chord with thousands of readers.
Born Mary Angelus McAnulty in 1935, the eldest of three daughters of Thomas and Molly, Mary lived until the age of 25 in the family home in Spinner Street on the Falls Road.
Her education began at St Vincent’s primary school, where there was another girl in the class called Mary McNulty. The nuns later decided to call her by her confirmation name, Philomena, and from then she was known as Phil McNulty.
“Many of my school friends will not be aware that the author Mary A Larkin is in fact Phil McNulty from their childhood and teenage years,” she wrote.
She began work at the Blackstaff Linen Mill, where her parents had also worked. When not at work she spent a lot of her time in church, and at one time seriously considered joining the Order of the Poor Clares.
That was until a friend persuaded her to accompany her one Friday evening to a ballroom dancing class at Sammy Leckey’s on the corner of North Street. They caught the dancing bug and began frequenting the city’s ballrooms, and it was at the Floral Hall that she met her husband-to-be, Con Larkin, marrying him two years later.
They had three sons, Con, Paul and Edan, and moved to England in the summer of 1974 when Con was offered a position in Darlington.
The family would travel back to Belfast each year to meet friends and relations – and after her writing career began, to research new books.
Mary published a dozen novels in all, with titles including Ties of Love and Hate, A Matter of Trust, Best Laid Plans and Painful Decisions.
Love, deceit, secrecy and jealously were common themes, with characters often drawn from people she had met or heard of growing up, set against a backdrop of city landmarks like Dunville Park, the Mackies factory or Belfast’s many cinemas and dance halls.
She described in one interview how she “used the scandal I had heard over the years as I grew up for the subject matter”.
Her books regularly featured in top 10 lists of the most borrowed from local libraries
“My proudest moment was going to Eason’s and seeing an entire window filled with my books. It was unbelievable; a great feeling,” she said.
Predeceased by her husband Con in 2020, Mary Larkin died on July 8 surrounded by her loving family. She was 89. She is survived by her sons, seven grandchildren and great-grand child.
Her funeral took place on July 26 in Holy Family Church, Cockerton.