Cecelia Ahern presents grittier side of Ireland with maturity and skill

THE Marble Collector opens with a memory. Sabrina Bloggs, aged three, watches as her mother launches the teapot at the ceiling. 

In retrospect, she imagines this was done in anger with her father, since her parents, who later separated, had survived many storms.

Now a married mum of two, Sabrina has the theme of memory on her mind. Dividing memories into sections of things we want to forget, things we can’t forget, and things we forget until we remember them, she has a knack of remembering things that others forget.