Tom Phelan

Tom Phelan was born and reared on a small farm in Mountmellick, Co. Laois, Ireland.

Tom had just turned fifty when his first novel, In the Season of the Daisies, was accepted for publication by the Lilliput Press in Dublin. Books Ireland’s reviewer wrote, “The most obvious question posed by a novelistic debut with as much resounding vigour as this is: Where has Mr. Phelan BEEN?”

In the Season of the Daisies, which centers on the 1921 IRA murder of a young boy and the effects on the survivors, was chosen for the Discover Great New Writers series sponsored by Barnes & Noble. It was also a finalist for the Discover Great New Writers Award.

Since then, Tom has penned six other novels--Nailer, The Canal Bridge, Iscariot, Derrycloney, and Lies the Mushroom Pickers Told--and he has seen his works published in four countries and three languages. He has also written a memoir, “We Were Rich and We Didn’t Know It: A Memoir of My Irish Boyhood” (Gallery Books/Simon and Schuster, 2019). For additional information, see www.tomphelan.net.