BEGINNER’S PLUCK: Laura Jane Cassidy

Laura Jane Cassidy is just 24. She’s about to publish a book for teens — and she was just 20 when she started the project.

“I was in my second year at Trinity College Dublin,” she says. “I was studying drama and film studies. In the summer between first and second year, I wrote the first draft of Angel Kiss. At Christmas, a London agent expressed interest but wanted a rewrite, so I took time out of college.”

After a six-month rewrite, though, the agent turned the manuscript down.

“It took another six months to find agent Faith O’Grady, and to be signed up by Puffin for a two-book deal. Getting that call was my best moment. I’d read Puffin throughout my childhood and they were my dream publishers.”

WHO IS LAURA?

Date of Birth: November, 1986.

Education: St Mary’s Naas. Leinster Senior College. Taking time out from Trinity College Dublin.

Home: Kildare, but shares a house in Dublin with three artists.

Hobbies: Reading, watching movies and blogging.

Favourite Writers: Neil Gaiman, Dave Eggers and John Green. “My favourite books as a child were Matilda, by Roald Dahl, followed closely by Eoin Colfer’s Artemis Fowl.”

Second novel: “It’s the second in the series about Jacki King. It’s going well. I started it when I was waiting to find a publisher. I had the story mapped out, but I had to start it again, because I learned so much from editing the first one.”

Twitter: @ljcassidy.

Web: laurajanecassidy.com.

THE DEBUT

Angel Kiss

May 5

€9.99 - Kindle £4.69

Jacki King, 15, is adjusting to life in a small village. She misses Dublin, but is making new friends, and finding romance. Then the headaches and nightmares begin. There are strange visions, voices and signs. Is something paranormal happening? And what of that murder from years before?

“There are elements of mystery, the supernatural and crime, but there’s a realistic setting as well,” says Laura. “Jacki is dealing with everyday things. too.”