Eithne Shortall

Irish author Eithne Shortall has signed a six-figure deal with a US publisher for her second novel, Grace After Henry. Her debut, Love in Row 27, meanwhile, has been optioned for a TV series by NBC Universal Studios International, the production company behind Downton Abbey, Friends, Seinfeld and Law & Order. Shortall, 31, who is chief arts writer on the Irish edition of the Sunday Times, said: “I had only finished the book four days when I got this news, and it has been two weeks now and I am still pinching myself. It has been a great whirlwind! I am so delighted, and still a little shocked, that Grace After Henry is going to be in American bookshops and the hands of real live American readers. I am excited for it to be in the hands of readers everywhere. I really believe in this book, and I think part of its appeal is how fundamentally Irish it is. A lot of writing it felt like magic; it is built on many moments of serendipity. The characters are real to me, and I’m just hoping readers will feel the same.”