Susan McGuirk's "Dear Missing Friend"

Susan McGuirk posts about historical fiction heroines on her blog “The Storied Sisters Society” on Bluesky, Substack, and on her website. McGuirk worked at Anthology Film Archives, a historical film museum, where she received its Film Preservation Award and serves on the Board of Advisors. She honed her writing skills at HBO, composing hundreds of in-house film reviews. After running a media mentoring program at City College of New York, McGuirk accepted the President’s Award. She lives with her husband in New York City.

Here the author dreamcasts an adaptation of her debut novel, Dear Missing Friend:

I spent years working in film programming. I read a lot of scripts and felt comfortable with dramatic writing. I’m also a big theater fan, so dialogue and images are how I thought about stories. I’m also a visual person, so being able to see the characters faces in my mind’s eye was important to me. I found images on antique photo sites to use as mental illustrations of each character. I did the same with the settings to better imagine the characters’ dwelling places.

So, picking a dream director and cast for a movie adaption of Dear Missing Friend is my idea of fun!

To start here is a short version of the story:

Catherine McGuirk leaves Ireland and a shipboard suitor behind for a new life in Sag Harbor, New York. At the height of the 1840s whaling era, Cath marries a handsome sailor who promises to forsake the sea. Instead, he leaves for the gold rush, spurring her quest to become a governess in Manhattan. Cath continues to be torn between her ambition, her missing husband, and her former beau, now a wealthy speculator.

My dream director: Joe Wright. He directed one of the all-time great historical fiction films, the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice. His 2017 Darkest Hour is one of the great Winston Churchill movies of all.

Here’s my dream team cast (culled from past and present).

Catherine McGuirk, protagonist who goes from teenager to bride to governess: Jesse Buckley

Michael Heffernan, husband who goes off whaling and then to the gold rush: Paul Mezcal (the pre-Gladiator physique)

Michael Lynch, unrequited former love of Catherine who hits it rich: Chris O’Dowd

Tor McGuirk, family patriarch and rule enforcer: a younger Liam Neeson

Frank McGuirk, ne’er do well but lovable scalawag of a brother: younger Gerard Butler

Susan Fee, bride of Tor and best friend of Catherine from home: a younger Kelly Macdonald

Jane Perdue, Catherine’s friend and neighbor who is half Native American and African American: Kali Reis, Emmy nominee in True Detective: Night Country with Jody Foster

Ellen Heffernan, Michael’s sister whom Catherine watches over: a younger Emily Watson

John McGuirk, young brother left behind in Ireland who gets caught in famine: Domhnall Gleeson or Jack Quaid

Visit Susan McGuirk's website.

--Marshal Zeringue