Joseph McGlynn

Joe McGlynn is living proof it’s never too late to write the book that matters. At 84, he turned a father’s pain into poetry — transforming the handwritten diaries he kept during his daughter Maeve’s recovery into the breathtaking debut novel, The Shoe That Came Off.

Born in Swords, County Dublin, Ireland in a place affectionately known as The Glock, Joe was raised in a house full of noise, humour, and unshakeable love. For decades he worked at Aer Lingus, quietly holding families together behind the scenes — never knowing his biggest act of holding on would come after a single, life-shattering phone call in 1990.

That year, his daughter was nearly lost in an accident. But Joe began to write — raw, aching, hopeful lines in a notebook. Thirty years later, those pages became something more:

A modern-day fairytale. A father’s promise. A book readers are calling unforgettable.

Today, Joe lives with his wife of over sixty years, Tishie, surrounded by their six children and a story that refuses to fade. He writes in a style he calls Father’s Breath — soft, poetic line breaks that move like memory.

His book is not just a story — it’s a rhythm, a heartbeat, and a homecoming.

If you’ve ever loved someone so deeply it hurt, The Shoe That Came Off was written for you.