Two Carlow authors feature in An Post Irish books list
Oh my God, what a complete Aisling
A BOOK co-written by Sarah Breen, who grew up in Borris, has made it on a list of the top 20 favourite Irish books collated by the An Post Irish Book Awards.
Sarah and Emer McLysaght wrote , which won an An Post popular fiction book of the year award in 2018. Emer and Sarah were “thrilled” when made it to the top 60 books of the last 20 years, but “for it to have made it to the top 20 is very unexpected,” she said.
The book was their second instalment of the popular five book series, which began with . “We never in a million years thought this first book would go on to be as successful as it was,” said Sarah.
The top 20 list began with a long list selected by leading booksellers nationwide. Sixty titles from fiction, non-fiction and children’s categories were included over the lifetime of the awards. Over 30,000 readers across Ireland then voted for their favourites and the top 20 emerged from these votes.
Claire Keegan, who grew up close to Clonegal, made the list with . Claire was named author of the year in 2023.
“We are absolutely thrilled to be mentioned in the same breath as authors we admire, like Claire Keegan and Sally Rooney,” noted Sarah.
Sarah believes that the books are well loved because the central character, Aisling, is very relatable. “She is kind and reliable and can’t do enough for other people. That type of character seems to be under-represented in literature because she’s not particularly cool or glamourous. But she is the best of us. She is also very, very funny, whether she realises it or not.
“If people are consuming and enjoying and understanding your work, that makes it a success,” said Sarah.
While the series came to an end in 2023, Sarah and Emer are busy working on a new book, , which will be released on 21 May.
