Separated by miles and oceans County Antrim native pens book after missing family

Natasha Majella

A County Antrim native, living in Australia, has just published her first book after finding herself missing family when unable to travel back home due to public health travel restrictions.

Natasha Majella (30) from Ballycastle, a former pupil at Cross and Passion College, graduated university with a First Class Honours Degree in Law back in 2014. However, having nannied for several years, as well working in child protection, the local lass said engaging with children, cheering them up and making them laugh, has always been at the forefront of her roles.

No children though have been closer to Natasha’s heart than her own niece and nephew. Having left Northern Ireland to live in Australia at the beginning of 2018, when the global coronavirus pandemic hit in 2020, suddenly family felt even farther away.

Natasha explained:

“In 2021, when Australia's borders remained closed with no date for reopening, my mental health started to suffer. I have never been the type of person to get homesick.

“However, I found that every time I went on Facebook and seen pictures of my little niece and nephew or anything related to home such as Fairhead, I began crying uncontrollably. Soon, feelings of hopelessness started to overshadow everything that I was doing.”

Desperate to take her mind of it, Natasha decided to put pen to paper, and write a story for her niece and nephew back home in Ballycastle, in an attempt to “try and connect with them someway, even from afar.”

“Channelling my father, who growing up would always tell me stories about Toothy-Joe the naughty pirate, I set about creating a story with him as one of the main characters,” Natasha shared.

“Within days, ‘The Magical Merchauns’ was born - a humorous story about Irish creatures, half-leprechaun and half-mermaid as they try to escape from Toothy-Joe and Evildra the wicket witch.

“It is ironic that doing something to bring joy to children actually ended up bringing so much joy to me.”

The budding author is currently in the middle of writing a legal novel, ‘The Wheel of Failure’ which she began in 2020.

According to Natasha, “The book seeks to encourage an awareness about a loophole in the law surrounding child protection and domestic violence, which results in vulnerable persons being further victimised by our legal systems and the media. It is set in Northern Ireland, and I hope to publish late it next year. It is confronting and quite the contrast to ‘The Magical Merchauns’!

Concluding Natasha commented: “I did love doing the children's book and developing the characters, so I would love to create another adventure for them too!”

‘The Magical Merchauns’, loved by Natasha’s niece and nephew, is now available to be loved by many other little readers, and can be purchased on Amazon.

Locally the book will also soon be available at Oz Standard Coffee (Drones Road), and Ducks Corner Shop in Cushendall.

Little Rian with his auntie Natasha's book.