Beginner’s pluck: Bookshop manager Gráinne O’Brien

Every teenager, and every parent of one, will surely relate to the story in 'Solo'

Gráinne O’Brien: 'I wrote throughout college, but it wasn’t until I took my MA that I learned to finish anything.'

A sensitive, anxious child, Gráinne drew on other people’s emotions.

“Books were the answer to everything,” she says.