John Duignan

Things to Do When the Music Stops John Duignan

Covering the years from mid-1980s to the second decade of the 2000s this saga of a partially dysfunctional family ranges between the West of Scotland, the Cote d'Azur and the South of Ireland. Gerry Sweeney after a life of excess returns to his homeland, discovers he has a son who is alienated from his mother, Kate Black. She, a former tv celebrity and author, has re-branded herself as a respectable business woman. Lurking in her past when a young single mother, is the gangster McArthur who bought her silence about a crime she had intimate knowledge of. From that moment Kate became ruthless in her dealings with friends and lesbian lovers. When McArthur re-appears, she sells off her media business and retires to the Antibes in the south of France. Meantime her son has disappeared - last heard of crewing on yachts. When Kate has a serious health issue, Sweeney, the father of her son, is sent to France and to search for their son. In Antibes he meets a mercurial young Irish woman, Shannnon who turns his head and he forgets about his son. When Shannon disappears he returns to the search. With no success he returns home and over the years becomes attracted to a young woman who was a friend of his son. Out of the blue, Shannon contacts him with news about the son - but it is not good. He has become involved with petty criminals on the fringes of the Nice Mafia. Kate recovers her health and finds new love with a young French woman. Just when all seems to be resolving itself happily in her life - including contact with her son - McArthur the gangster sends and envoy to Kate with a threat about his forthcoming trial. Kate approaches Sweeney for help. But it looks to her that she is going to have to recover her old ruthless streak if she is to enjoy her autumn years with the woman she loves and secure the safety and future of a grandchild.