Maggie O’Farrell: ‘Fiction comes from what you don’t know’

What happened

According to The Guardian’s source item, Maggie O’Farrell: ‘Fiction comes from what you don’t know’, From a young age, the author was told that one of her ancestors had drawn some of the first maps of Ireland. Then she found a photograph, and embarked on a journey to discover his story Every family has its myths. In mine, we were told that one of our antecedents had worked on the first maps of Ireland. As a child, I used to picture a solitary person in unspecified period dress – a tailcoat, perhaps some kind of cravat – striding pensively about fields and mountains, pen in hand. On summer holidays, I would stare out of the window of our red car as Donegal or Galway rolled by and wonder that such a task could be achieved. How did one man set about drawing a map of a whole country, of these towns and strands and trees and rivers? All myths comprise a great deal of fanciful embroidery through which runs the distinct thread of truth: time and retelling will always refrac

Context

The development sits in VINI’s Global file for readers following international affairs, institutions, conflict, diplomacy, economics, and cross-border consequences. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The source item is dated 2026-05-31T11:00:47+00:00.

What to watch

Open questions include whether primary sources issue follow-up statements, whether local or market impacts become clearer, and whether additional reporting changes the timeline or adds material context.

Source

Primary source: Maggie O’Farrell: ‘Fiction comes from what you don’t know’ via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.