From Granny’s House to Salthill: Galway in My Stories

Welcome to the next installment of my personal inspirations from Galway, Ireland. As those of you who’ve read my books know, I lived in Galway and set my stories there. There are many reasons I chose this setting, but one of the most important is my love for the city itself and the quiet magic it lends to every scene.

In this blog post, we’ll follow Aisling from downtown out to Granny’s house.

Granny’s House on Taylor’s Hill

I set Granny’s house on one of the loveliest streets in Galway: Taylor’s Hill Road. My husband and I lived there for two years, and that stretch of road has become one of my favorite setting locations in the Of Gods and Monsters series. (Though is there a bad setting in Ireland???)

During our time in Galway, an old home on Taylor’s Hill went on the market. Because I love wandering through houses and imagining the lives lived inside them, I persuaded my husband to go to the ‘open house’ viewing with me.

The house was charming—full of character, in need of some renovation, and absolutely perfect for Granny’s house.

The layout you read about in the books is based on what I remember from walking through that home and from the listing photos that were online at the time. (Those photos have long since vanished, but the house stayed with me.) On the page, I added my own touches: interior colors, details of the rooms, and of course, a spooky attic. I have no idea if the real house had an attic, but what’s a Granny’s house in a fantasy series without at least one slightly eerie space?

Some details I didn’t invent: the red-and-black tile floor in the entry hall, the side garden that felt like a secret pocket of green, and a small shed out back. Those came straight from the real Taylor’s Hill house.

If we could have stayed in Galway, I would have worked very hard to convince my husband that we should buy and restore that place. As it is, the house lives in my memory—and in the pages of the Of Gods and Monsters series.

Aisling, Fergus, and the Hill

If you continue walking up Taylor’s Hill Road, you come to an intersection where traffic suddenly appears over the rise of a small hill. I used to cross there on my way home, and more than once I’d be halfway across when one of the massive city buses appeared over the crest of the road.

It wasn’t impossible to get across, but you did have to time it just right.

On the day of Aisling’s arrival, she’s jet lagged, overwhelmed, and not exactly at her most coordinated. Standing in that very spot, facing down a bus that’s bearing toward her, is a bit more than she’s ready for.

Fortunately for her, Fergus shows up.

This moment in the book marks the third time they’ve crossed paths in a single day, starting at the coach station, where he first pulls her back from a near miss with traffic. On Taylor’s Hill, he steps in again and then walks with her to her destination: Tommy Kennedy’s house.

As it happens, that’s where Fergus is heading too.

Our former home in Galway and my writing space!

Tommy Kennedy’s House and a View of the Sea

Tommy lives where my husband and I used to live, in a brick house with a beautiful garden and an upstairs view of the sea. From the front bedrooms, you can look out toward Salthill and catch a distant glimpse of the Atlantic and Galway Harbor.

My writing den was there, looking out toward that view. On clear days, the light would pour in, and the water would flash at the edge of the horizon. On days like that, I often abandoned my desk for a walk down to Salthill, a cup of coffee and then a stroll along the promenade.

The Salthill Promenade is one of those places that finds its way into your bones: the sound of waves, the glint of the sun on the water, the wind that insists on rearranging your hair, the curve of the bay, and that sense of standing right on the edge of something wide and wild. County Clare was visible across Galway Bay. It was the perfect counterpoint to the quieter, more domestic magic of Taylor’s Hill and Granny’s house.

Some of the magic of Salthill

Galway is magic. I don’t have a single bad picture from my time there—and more importantly, I don’t have a single bad memory. Writing these blog posts lets me revisit a city I feel incredibly lucky to have called home and to share a little of that magic with you.

I hope you’re enjoying this behind-the-scenes look at the real places that inspired the Of Gods and Monsters series.

May you have magical adventures wherever you are,

Kelley