The Storms

Actress Abbie de Lange is playing the early 20th-century Irish writer Therese Mae Smith in a historical biopic. But during filming, she clashes with the male director, and in the screenplay the ‘male gaze’ is also palpable. A complex visionary author is rendered one-dimensionally as a hopeless, mentally-ill woman. In Therese’s diary entries, Abbie discovers a very different story: an unhappy marriage, an intense romantic relationship with another woman in the convent, and a lifelong struggle for her literary ambitions not to be supressed. Determined not to let history be erased again, Abbie decides to act.

Gradually, the line between the two women begins to blur. Abbie recognises herself in Therese: both lost their mothers at a young age, struggle with motherhood, and neither is taken seriously when it comes to their artistic ambitions. Their lives become increasingly intertwined, which is also reflected in the structure of the novel. Therese’s poetic diary entries alternate with Abbie’s story, until the distinction between them blurs and the two voices begin to merge.

‘The Storms’ is a gripping novel about motherhood, longing, loss and female self-determination. It is an ode to all the women writers whose work has remained unseen.