Beginner’s Pluck: Anne Madden's debut is an impressive, sweeping saga

The Belfast-born writer says she would love to have had the courage to be a strong political reader and to have sorted Northern Ireland’s problems

Anne Madden's 'The Wilderness Way' looks at post-Famine emigration in 19th century Irealnd.

Ann was a chatty, cheeky child, who adored both reading and writing.

“The local libraries were amazing,” she says.