BEGINNER’S PLUCK: Sarah Harte

SARAH HARTE has always wanted to be a writer.

“I wrote poems and stories from the age of four, but I gave it up at 20 when I was at college. Then I was too busy with exams, having a baby and practising law,” she says. Leaving her job with A & L Goodbody eight years ago, Sarah studied journalism, wrote features for the Irish Independent and for The Village magazine, before writing fiction. “I decided to write about women who were looking for a new identity after their children had left home. Then, around the time the Celtic Tiger unfolded, I decided to add in that element,” she says.

Who is Sarah Harte?

Date/Place of Birth: The early 1970s in Dublin.

Education: Scoil na Nóg Coláiste an Phiarsaigh in Glanmire, Co Cork. University College Cork — law. Trinity College Dublin — post graduate in philosophy. DIT — masters in journalism.

Home: Dublin.

Family: Husband, the entrepreneur Jay Bourke, and son Conn (14).

The Day Job: Full-time writer.

Hobbies: Reading, running and cooking.

Favourite Writers: Anne Enright; Marian Keyes; Jennifer Johnston; JG Farrell.

Second Novel: “I’ve started it, but I won’t talk about it to anyone. I believe you can talk a book away.

Top Writing Tip: Don’t write on a computer all day long. I write on paper in the morning, in a cafe or public place. I get inspiration. Then I transfer to a PC in the afternoon. It makes the day feel shorter.

Web: www.sarahharte.com

THE DEBUT

The Better Half by Sarah Harte.

Penguin Ireland. €13.99. Kindle eBook Approx €8.50.

Anita has it all. Married to a self-made property developer she enjoys a glittering lifestyle. Then the economy crashes, and everything goes into freefall. She and her friends struggle with their new reality. Will they, and their families survive?

The Verdict: This is a brilliant boom-to- bust story, giving us an authentic look into the lives of the ladies who lunch. Harte documents the recession through their eyes with great insight and poignancy.