Sophie White: 'I don't know any other way to be'

Sophie White talks as honestly and candidly as she writes. From friendship and motherhood, to ambition and mental illness, nothing was off limits when she met Edel Coffey to talk about her new book

Author Sophie White at the River Lee Hotel, Cork. Picture Dan Linehan

Sophie White bobs into the chic surroundings of The Alex Hotel in Dublin, a ray of friendly, positive energy. Her platinum-blonde hair is tinged with a creamy pink shade, and she is dressed in a rosy cardigan which she knit for herself. She is adorned with distractingly cool jewellery and tattoos (a recent one reads: ‘Take Your Meds’). It’s one of the first sunny days of the season, so she orders an iced latte.

We are meeting to discuss her fifth novel and seventh book, My Hot Friend, which deals with everything from female friendship to motherhood and mental illness. It’s a lot funnier than that list might suggest. Like Marian Keyes, White’s fiction manages to walk the line between raucous humour and the often murky and difficult terrain of Real Life.