Deirdre Purcell was born and brought up in Dublin, and educated there and in a County Mayo convent. Before turning to the writing of fiction, she lived through an eclectic set of careers, including acting, as a member of the permanent company of Ireland`s National Theatre (The Abbey), and journalism for all media - for which she won Ireland's top awards. She has written numerous fiction and non-fiction bestsellers and for six years, presented 'What It Says in the Papers'slot for RTE's Morning Ireland programme, leaving in 2018 to concentrate on her writing.