Beginner’s pluck: Writer and freelance journalist Caroline Madden

'The Marriage Vendetta' started off as a historical novel but after many rejections, Caroline rewrote it in a modern setting and sold it at auction

Caroline Madden: 'After Trinity, I qualified as a tax consultant. But I was so bored one night, that I started writing a novel, and loved it.'

When the young Caroline wasn’t reading, she was working in a riding school and writing about ponies.

“When I was eight or nine, a pony magazine published my poem. That was the lightbulb moment; I knew what I wanted to do with my life,” she said.