Running the Cobblestones

Pitch


The story is about a disgraced young American widow who moves to Ireland for a fresh start. She opens The Cobblestones guesthouse, makes friends with the locals, and hires a teen with Down syndrome. He vows to protect her like John Wayne, which leads him to confront a stalker with a stun gun. The story has surprises and a lot of humor—because the Irish can’t open their “gobs” without spewing something funny!


Query Summary


When Kate McMahon discovers her late husband had masterminded a Ponzi scheme, she’s gobsmacked. To escape the shame in her small hometown in Minnesota, she sells everything and moves to Ireland where she had spent a happy semester. She opens The Cobblestones guesthouse, but can she make a success of the place and cobble together a fresh start? If not, she’ll find herself on her mom’s futon in a retirement community in Arizona. Torrential rain threatens tourism, dampening her financial security, and a rough start with the inn’s daft housekeeper crimps her self-confidence. But the locals engage Kate with their wit and wisdom and the shenanigans of the large family next door provide lightheartedness. An unlikely friendship is built between Kate and Michael, a teenage neighbor with Down syndrome. Michael vows to guard her as if he were John Wayne, with a Dalmatian serving as his deputy. Truth be told, she needs protection because during her daily jogs Kate is stalked by an addict who cusses creatively and carries a stun gun. When this lout’s final attempt to rape her is thwarted by Michael, he lashes out at the lad and chases him into the raging canal. The courageous neighbors—including the inn’s stout manager, the octogenarian fixture in the pub, and the smoking-hot runner she fancies—rush to his aid. Can they save their darlin’ Michael?


C.K. MacDonald is the pen name for the mother-daughter writing team of Cecelia (McMahon) MacDonald and Kathryn (MacDonald) Schneeman, of Mendota Heights, Minnesota. Both authors are graduates of the University of St. Thomas (Class of ’88). Running the Cobblestones is their first novel.


Kathryn is a freelance writer who lived in Dublin for one happy college semester. She and her husband Eric are the parents of nine children, including twins. She stays sane by writing in pubs and running through the streets of St. Paul.


Cecelia, Kathryn’s mother, does small things with great love. She is a freelance editor, a retired grant writer and a regular in the pews. The product of a large family of tipplers and storytellers, she dreams about running away to Ireland.