The Anti Room

Good morning! Just a quick reminder to those who are not blue in the face hearing about it, this evening is the launch of my latest novel The Chosen.  The launch is being held at The Gutter Bookshop in Temple Bar, starting 6:30 pm. As some of you also know, The Chosen is the first [...]

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I like to believe nobody has a perfect relationship with their parents, but at 35 I’m wondering when my relationship will shift from the constant power play to one of harmony and trust. I’ve done the transactional analysis on it and stopped accepting the role of child in our relationship. Changing actions and attitudes is [...]

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Here’s a bizarre dichotomy to consider: corrective rape. Yes, raping a person to make them see the error of their ways. I wish I could tell you I’d made it up, but it seems it’s all the rage at home, in South Africa. Now take a moment to consider and remember the following women, all [...]

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Get your body beach ready! Get your bikini body now! What? Why? My body IS beach ready thank-you, lumps, pale skin, wobbly bits and all. I just want to swim, not to enter Ms South Beach. I’m not going out there to titillate the surfers. I simply want to build an enormous moat with the [...]

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Now first things first. These are called SC-OH-NES. Not “scons” as my father says, bless his cotton socks (that are clearly not helping his pronunciation). Right then. So I have had the opportunity go home sweet home for the first time in – gosh – almost three months (thank you obstetrics), and whilst there, I clearly [...]

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Who needs or wants to know about the inner workings of other people’s relationships? About the minor detail of their lives? We may not need to know but we certainly want to know about some couples. Often the stormier the pairing, the more drawn we are to the drama. Ted Hughes and Sylvia Plath, for [...]

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When I was little and we got the giggles in ballet class, the teacher told one of the big girls off for saying we had laughed so hard that we “literally hosed ourselves”. We hadn’t, obviously. But then we hadn’t had sex, been pregnant, given birth to children, or had hysterectomies yet either. Nowadays, one [...]

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Here’s my guilty secret – I watch Coronation Street. Ever since the tram crash, I have been reeled right in. I’m not about to defend my viewing though – you can judge me whatever way you want to on that issue. I am, however, going to share an element of discomfort I have with a [...]

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Amazing what you can come across in the children’s section of Dubray Books while innocently browsing for a small girl’s birthday party present. My luck was in on Saturday with this Dress Up Dolly book, starring Kate Middleton in a vest-and-pants combo not dissimilar to what you once saw on the back of Bunty. Her [...]

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We have one of the lowest percentages of forest cover in Europe (and it’s mostly Sitka spruce, though broadleaf trees now make up 20 per cent of new planting) though we’re supposed to be increasing from the current 7 per cent to 17 per cent cover by 2030. What we do have is owned and [...]

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