Carrigaline resident, Trish Kearney’s memoir, ‘Above Water’ is to be published this week by Irish publishing house Hachette Ireland. It’s a powerful story of survival and the healing power of love and family.
At age thirteen, Trish’s idyllic childhood was abruptly ended when her swimming coach - the internationally recognised George Gibney - began abusing her. Six years later, the Seoul Olympics firmly within her sights, she walked away from swimming and her abuser.
In her memoir, Trish describes how suppressed memories of those difficult years resurfaced after the birth of her first child, and the momentous journey set in train when a letter arrived from former team-mate Gary O'Toole, opening a Pandora's box on the abuse - leading to a failed court case and Gibney's ultimate exposure in the press as a rampant, controlling paedophile.
Trish was a contributor to the popular BBC Sounds and Second Captains podcast documentary, ‘Where Is George Gibney?’ which aired over last Summer and Autumn and has now been listened to over 2 million times.
“Writing this book was a challenge, to return to a past I rarely speak of and allow others see it as I lived it. Thankfully today, I live in a different world, supported and believed. Gibney took away my innocence and much of my childhood, but my life is so much more than what Gibney did to me. I am more, not less. I would like to think that those who read my story might believe it is possible to live, love and laugh again after abuse.”
Above Water by Trish Kearney is published in Trade Paperback by Hachette Ireland on Thursday 18th February and is available to buy from Carrigaline Bookshop and from Easons online.