LOUISE O'NEILL: When I was hospitalised for anorexia, I was obsessed with the idea that other patients were ‘better’ at starving themselves

It's a funny thing, being the younger of two daughters. I often wonder how much of my personality is innate or how much of it I constructed in direct contrast with my older sister.

You are this thing, then I will be this. You are shy, so I must be outgoing. I loved my sister but I also watched her carefully, measuring the amount of love and attention she received from my parents against my own lot, complaining bitterly if I felt the shares were uneven.