She said: “I wrote my first novel for teenagers, and I sent it to a publisher who had brought out a lot of books for teenagers and children. They turned it down.
“I sent it to another publisher… but it was turned down again. I thought maybe it wasn’t up to much really. It’s very hard to judge when you have written it yourself.
“I decided to send it to one last publisher. It would be my third and final try. I sent the manuscript to the O’Brien Press, where it was accepted. That led to a trilogy of romantic fiction books set in Dublin.”
In a previous book aimed at young people, Taylor had written about the Second World War as experienced in Ireland, which remained neutral during the conflict.
“I got the idea for 17 Martin Street from an elderly woman,” Taylor recalled. “She had come to Ireland from Germany when she was about 16.
“The war had not started yet, but the Nazis were in power and the situation in Germany was worsening.
“After she told me her story, I said: ‘Supposing I wrote about it, would you mind?’ She said: ‘No, I don’t mind. It’s an amazing story, but just don’t use my name.’”
Marilyn Taylor, author of 17 Martin Street[Missing Credit]
The book is about two families, one Irish, one Jewish, who come to live next door to each other in Dublin.
The children are friendly but the adults in the Irish family – particularly the father – don’t trust Jews.
However, the children of the two families accidentally run into “Renata”, a Berlin Jewish refugee, who is in hiding from the police as her visa to stay in Ireland has expired. The children determine to help her, but the police get there first.
Taylor recalled: “A policeman and an official from the Department of Immigration came for her.
“When they got to the station, it was about 5am. and they said that the first train would leave at 6am. The administration guy went off and she was left with the policeman. They were sitting there. and she was still in tears, in a terrible state.
“The policeman said to her: ‘You know – I don’t have to wait with you to get that train. I might have to leave now. I might have an important thing to take care of. I might have to leave you here to get the train to Belfast yourself. Of course, I won’t know what you do next!’ He went off and she crossed over the platform and went back.”
The real Renata was Sabina Wyszniak. She married an Englishman, Monty Shorts, who settled in Dublin, and they had two sons. Sabina’s father and elder sister survived in Israel. Her mother and younger sister Asta were murdered after they left Berlin and returned to Poland, where her parents were originally from.
One of the pages from 17 Martin Street, by Marilyn Taylor, which has been republished as a graphic novel (Image: O'Brien Press/Alan Nolan/Jason Browne/Paul Carroll)[Missing Credit]
By pure chance, said Taylor: “17 Martin Street – the house that I picked for the fictitious Jewish family in the novel – turned out to be the same house that my publisher Michael O’Brien’s mother had been born in. He thought I knew, but I didn’t. it was a complete coincidence!
“I had walked up and down that street thinking that I wanted to set the story there. Martin Street is full of very small houses – labourers’ cottages really, with no gardens… One of the houses was for sale and I was able to go in and see inside. That made a big difference. I could write about the girls going in and running up the stairs and that sort of thing.”
She is delighted that her book is now a graphic novel and hopes that it will reach even more young people.
Taylor’s three adult children – Adam and Maryanne, who live in London; and Gideon, who lives in New York – paid tribute to their mother and the new version of her book, saying: “Our mother’s overarching goal in her writing has always been to encourage children to read and to learn, and to do it in a way that draws them in, especially children who are reluctant readers. How wonderful that her book is now available in a new way that engages kids and, at the same time, teaches them about the Holocaust.”
17 Martin Street by Marilyn Taylor is published by O’Brien Press
