Beginner’s Pluck: Josephine Moone

A prolific reader, Josephine started writing from her early school days and didn’t stop. She studied journalism and film at university, but did a postgraduate degree in education and taught English, but it didn’t suit her. So she turned back to writing.

“I pursued technical writing, then became an editor in the field of engineering. That was soul destroying, so I spent a year in a publishing house which was bliss. Then I moved to the country and ran a horse rescue charity. But I didn’t stop writing.”

Josephine wrote 10 manuscripts; all were rejected. Then, sitting in a tea shop, she had the idea for The Tea Chest. Writing the first draft while pregnant, she sent it on a whim to her favourite writer, Monica McInerney. Monica handed it to her agent, and publication followed swiftly.