An author’s new book is inspired by an emotional journey to uncover a long-standing family mystery.

Although, As Long as it Takes, written by mum-of-two Maria McCarthy, features a series of fictional tales, her inspiration was a visit to her parents’ Irish homeland.

She made the trip to Mitchelstown, County Cork, in 2007 in an attempt to discover why her late father, Jim, was abandoned as a baby by her grandparents.

The couple left him in the care of an aunt when they moved to England in 1928 when he was just two-days-old.

The reason for the seemingly heartless decision was never revealed as Jim desisted from discussing the issue with his own daughter.

He died in 2000, which sparked Maria’s mission to finally shed light on the subject which had been a taboo all her life.

Maria, 54, from London Road, Teynham, said: “It was a painful journey, both the trip to my father’s hometown and the subsequent writing of the book.

“My father was not a happy man, and although he had five children, he wasn’t close to us.

“He didn’t know how to relate to us very well, which isn’t surprising, bearing in mind what happened to him.”

To unravel her father’s formative years, Maria wrote to Irish novelist William Trevor who was born in the same town, and year, as Jim.

Her plea was passed to an associate of William’s who traced the cousins with whom Jim was raised.

The answer she had sought for more than 50 years finally came - her father was born out of wedlock, creating a potential outrage from which her grandparents felt they had to escape.

“You have to remember, it was 1928 in Catholic Ireland and it was deemed scandalous to have children without being married,” Maria said.

Aged 16, Jim joined his parents in England where he met his future wife - Maria’s mother - Mary, who is also Irish.

As well as feeding her a welter of ideas for the book - Maria’s second tome since retiring through illness as a charity worker - she said the meetings with her father’s family put an end to the enmity she felt for her grandparents.

She said had they remained in Ireland, her grandmother may have ended up like many of the country’s “fallen women”, incarcerated in one of its notorious Magdelene laundries.

“I now understand how they came to leave a child behind,” Maria said. “During my time in Cork, I met an American woman in a graveyard who was looking for answers just as I was.

“Her grandmother had a child out of wedlock, but moved to America, rather than England. I now have sympathy for my grandparents and what they must have gone through to have to leave.

“I’m very happy that they were able to build a life together in England. “The alternative could’ve been so much worse.” As Long as it Takes costs £10 and is available at www.culturedllama.co.uk

Maria will be reading excerpts from the book at pART Project in the Forum, Sittingbourne, from 2pm to 4pm on Saturday.

She will also be appearing at Jittermugs in Preston Street, Faversham, from 3pm to 5pm on Monday, March 17.