Fiction
Cecelia Ahern has sold over 25 million books. Photo: Mark Condren
Cecelia Ahern has long held her place among Ireland’s most widely read authors, ever since her whimsical debut PS, I Love You captured hearts on both sides of the Atlantic. With over 25 million books sold and several adapted for screen, Ahern’s work is supremely readable and big-hearted.
Her latest novel, Paper Heart, riffs on Romeo and Juliet, imagining how the story might have played out if the teenage lovers had lived in Ireland and been separated by their cruel parents after the revelation of an unplanned pregnancy. Juliet in this case is Pip, a 32-year-old woman, whose life has ossified into routine and resignation.