About – the eilís dillon irish writing pages

The reviews at the bottom of the page draw comparisons with a surprising range of writers. There is also alink to a chronological list of her published works. Her mother, Geraldine Plunkett, was the sister of the poet Joseph Mary Plunkett, one of the seven signatories of the Proclamation of the Irish Republic. She was educated at the Ursuline Convent in Sligo, and then sent to work in the hotel and catering trade in Dublin.

In , at the age of 20, she married a year-old Corkman. At first she wrote children's books in Irish and English, then started to write novels and detective stories. Over twenty of her books were published by Faber and Faber, winning critical acclaim and a wide readership. Her work was eventually translated into fourteen foreign languages.

With the Italian writer Ignazio Silone Photograph by Darina Silone In the s, her husband's poor health prompted early retirement and a move to Rome.

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He died, back home in Ireland, in It became an instant bestseller, and was an alternate Book-of-the-Month Club choice in America. The photograph below shows the author with the team at Philip MacDermott Ltd, the Irish agents who promoted the book. They moved westward when Vivian was appointed to a chair in the University of California, Santa Barbara.

They spent each winter in California until Vivian's retirement in , returning to Ireland for the spring and summer.