Author Celia Montes (above) in her north Dublin home with copies of her We Were Born An Ocean Apart (top) written while Celia and her partner James Gabriel Martin were separated by covid

James Gabriel Martin writes:

My partner Celia and myself spent several months this year separated in different countries due to COVID. She was in Spain and I was in Ireland and it was impossible for us to see each other.

She had travelled there to work on a book. She turned our struggle into art, writing We Were Born an Ocean Apart, about a mermaid who swims from the warm Mediterranean to the cold Atlantic Ocean, and who embraces a new life. We worked together on the translation and got it printed, unsure of what would happen.

We were finally reunited and had over 200 copies of the book crammed into our little cottage in North Dublin. But over the past week, the book “went viral” after I shared it online, and it has now sold out.

We rang the publisher and hundreds more are being printed in the next two weeks. We’re so delighted that it has struck a chord with people who are enjoying a story inspired by Irish folklore and legends, something Celia was captivated by.

It has Irish fishermen, banshees and the Cliffs of Moher. It’s suitable for all ages too.

Purchase We Were Born An Ocean Apart  here