McGuinness, Hilary: - "Born into a tight-knit family in Duleek, County Meath, Ireland, Hilary McGuinness was an academic disaster but always had a notion she'd write a novel someday. Her early life in the village of Duleek - unremarkable, yes, but still hers - was all about friends and sport, then school and tending bar, where her customers opened a door for her that never closed. After trying her hand in New York City - a lark that turned into a fifteen-year stint - she finally returned home to settle in County Louth with her husband, Calum, and their two amazing kids, Archie and Danny."