Who is Fran O'Brien

Life is but a Series of Unexpected Journeys

Fran O’Brien grew up on the south side of Dublin and always had a love of literature. In 2005, Fran and her husband Arthur McGuinness, heard Jane McKenna, the founder of LauraLynn Children’s Hospice, speak on the radio. They were very moved to hear about the tragic loss of Laura and Lynn, Jane and Brendan’s only two daughters, and decided to establish McGuinness Books and publish the first of Fran’s books – THE MARRIED WOMAN – to raise funds for The LauraLynn Foundation which had been established by Jane and Brendan to build a children’s hospice in memory of their girls.

Jane and Brendan have been through every parent’s worst nightmare. Laura died, just four years old, following surgery to repair a heart defect. Her big sister, Lynn, died, aged fifteen, less than two years later, having lost her battle against Leukaemia – diagnosed on the day of Laura’s surgery.

Now their dream has come true, and LauraLynn Children’s Hospice has become a reality, and offers community based paediatric palliative care, respite, end-of-life, and also the LauraLynn@home Programme.

Since 2005, Fran has written and published twelve novels, and all proceeds from sales are donated to LauraLynn. Fran and Arthur have become close friends with Jane and Brendan, and knowing them has changed their lives.

Nowadays, the books are sold at shows like Holiday World Show, Pregnancy & Baby The Ideal Homes, Bloom, Dublin Horse Show, National Ploughing Championships, Knitting and Stitching, Gifted, the Contemporary Craft and Design Show, and others.

Fran has also written for theatre, and her granduncle Professor Liam O’Briain, was one of the founders of An Taidhbhearc in Galway. He was also a writer and translator and wrote in the Irish language about his experience in The College of Surgeons during the Rising in Easter Week 1916. In Liam’s memory, this book was reprinted in 2016 by McGuinness Books with an English translation.

Sponsors

We would like to thank our sponsors for all their support over many years for LauraLynn Children's Hospice. Their help has been invaluable to us and we really appreciate everything they do.

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