This Much I Know: 'Take the chances' - author Jo Spain

The bestselling author and screenwriter on mortality, taking chances, and growing up in north Dublin

Jo Spain's latest novel The Perfect Lie is out now.

My family are Dubliners through and through. I remember going to Donegal with my husband before and being shocked at how dark it was. I grew up in a one-class estate in Coolock and my family are all from Beaumont and Whitehall. They're very down to earth, funny, gritty people. They definitely influenced me in terms of character development and stories because they're just so brutally honest.

From an early age, I was writing creatively and I had teachers who really supported it. I was doing poems and stories for school magazines and I was reading all of the time. When other children were out playing I was just reading books over and over. Nobody was surprised when I wrote my first book, but it wasn’t normal to do this kind of job where I grew up.