Beginner’s pluck: Evie Woods self-published her first book in 2013

'The Story Collection' is a perfect mix of everyday life and the supernatural

Evie Woods got a deal for her third book, 'The Story Collector', with a small independent publisher in Britain, but the publisher folded during covid.

As a young child, Evie spent time in hospital, and books really helped her.

“But when the issue resolved itself, I stopped reading and went out into the world anxious to experience everything I’d missed out on.”

After taking an Erasmus year in France, Evie moved to Montreal in Canada.

“I was working in marketing, but at 25, I suffered from social anxiety and had to quit my job.

“I spent a lot of time at home, and I returned to reading.”

The library sustained me. I read everything by Maeve Binchy and Marian Keyes.

“It was a world to escape to, out of reality.”

She also started writing.

“I wrote three chapters of a book in 2004,” she says.

After five years in Canada, feeling homesick and wanting a change, Evie moved back to Ireland and worked freelance in admin and audio typing from home.

“And I kept writing. I self-published my first book in 2013, and a second one a year later.”

She was also submitting to publishers, and in 2018, she got a deal for her third book, The Story Collector, with a small independent publisher in Britain, but the publisher folded during covid.

When, last year, The Lost Bookshop was published and topped charts, her publisher took on her backlist.

Who is Evie Woods?

Date/ place of birth: 1976/ Galway.

Education: Dominican Convent, Taylor’s Hill; Atlantic Tech University in Galway, business and marketing.

Home: Galway city.

Family: Parents, sister, and brother.

The day job: Full-time writer.

In another life: “I would be painting. After Canada I had a small exhibition; it could have gone either way.”

Favourite writers: Claire Fuller; Carlos Ruiz Zavon; Daphne du Maurier; Gail Honeyman; Elizabeth McKenzie; Sally Rooney.

Second book: The Mysterious Bakery on Rue De Paris.

Top tip: Never give up. “Rejections mean the story’s not strong enough, but it can be fixed.”

Website: www.eviewoods.com

Instagram: @eviewoods.author

The debut

The Story Collection

One More Chapter, €11.99/ Kindle, €3.86

When the American Sarah Harper arrives in Ireland, her life is a mess. Then she unearths a century-old diary of Anna, who’s
helping an American translate fairy stories. And unearthly secrets start to unfold.

The verdict: Superb. A perfect mix of everyday life and the supernatural.