WATCH Karen Fitzgibbon launches second novel ‘Never Look Back’ with special O’Mahony’s event

Limerick author Karen Fitzgibbon launched ‘Never Look Back’, the second novel in the Lana Bowen series at O’Mahony’s Bookshop on Thursday, May 8, 2025. Picture: Olena Oleksienko/ilovelimerick

Limerick author Karen Fitzgibbon launched ‘Never Look Back’, the second novel in the Lana Bowen series at O’Mahony’s Bookshop on Thursday, May 8

Local author Karen Fitzgibbon launched her second novel, Never Look Back, at O’Mahony’s Bookshop on O’Connell Street in Limerick on Thursday evening, where a packed crowd of friends, family, and fans joined for the special occasion.

‘Never Look Back’ follows the story of Jenny, who loses her nineteen-year-old daughter Clara at Colbert train station in Limerick. She is holding Clara’s young baby in her arms, a baby she didn’t know existed twenty-four hours earlier. As they move along the platform, Clara simply vanishes.

Clara’s brother Nyah, calls up an old college friend, Lana Bowen, who works as a private investigator, to help him find his sister. Together they trace Clara’s movements to London – but they are always one step behind, encountering more and more baffling developments along the way.

advertisement
advertisement

advertisement
advertisement

advertisement
advertisement

advertisement
advertisement

advertisement
advertisement

advertisement
advertisement

The book is the second in her Lana Bowen series, following the debut ‘The World’s End’, and continues the journey of the lead character in this Limerick-based mystery series. 

Speaking with I Love Limerick at the launch, Karen said, “ I am so thrilled and honoured to be here in O’Mahony’s Bookshop here in O Connell Street, Limerick this evening to launch ‘Never Look Back’, all my family and friends are here and all my community drama groups as well.

“ I signed a three-book deal with Poolbeg Press in July 2023, and it has been a roller coaster ever since. So now I’m about to launch number two, and number three will be out next year.”

Speaking about the central character, Karen explained that when she created her, she thought “this girl is really interesting” and knew there was more to come.

Karen told I Love Limerick, “She just kind of came to me one night, and I just thought, ‘this girl is really interesting.’ As a character, I just felt that she had a lot of depth in the first book, ‘The World’s End’, and I wasn’t finished with her. I wanted to kind of develop her a little bit more. They are standalone novels, but we do get to experience Lana’s journey from book one, book two, and then into book three, and maybe book four… Hopefully.”

In the evening, Karen expressed how grateful she was to her fellow writers, early readers, and the supporters who helped bring her book from its beginnings to publication, giving a special mention to local author Siobhan MacDonald for her support in the process.

Karen said she reached out to her fellow author on Instagram to ask if she would be interested in reading a proof of ‘Never Look Back’, saying, “ ’Would you be interested in reading a proof of my book and maybe if you liked it, say something nice on the cover’. I’m always surprised because Siobhan does not know who I am, I’m just a total stranger, and she straight away came back with, ‘Yes, I’d love to, send it on.’ And then she said some amazing things. So I’m just so grateful to you and to all the writers that contributed.”

“It takes a small army to get a book onto a shelf,” she noted, highlighting the contributions from her friends, family, local media, community writing groups and the O’Mahony’s team. The Limerick author gave special thanks to her readers, saying, “ I just want to say thank you to everybody, because I cannot write a book without a reader. You need a reader. It’s all about the audience. And I just wanna say thank you to the audience.”

Never Look Back is available now on O’Mahony’s website and in bookstores, promising a mystery novel that will have you hanging on every page.

Pictures: Olena Oleksienko/ilovelimerick