Press Release

Ronan O’Brien wins Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards07/05/2009

Ronan O’Brien last night won the Best Newcomer Award at the Irish Book Awards ceremony in the Mansion House, Dublin. O’Brien’s beat off strong competition from Kathryn Thomas, Celine Kiernan and Kevin Power to win the award for his debut novel Confessions of a Fallen Angel (Sceptre).  He joined an impressive array of award winners last night, with Sebastian Barry, Seamus Heaney, Marian Keyes and Ronan O’Gara all picking up gongs. Edna O’Brien won the lifetime achievement award.

Confessions of a Fallen Angel shot straight into the Irish top five on publication in January 2008. It is co-published by Hachette Books Ireland and Hodder & Stoughton and in the UK

About the book
Following a near-death experience as a child, the narrator becomes cursed with the ability to foresee the deaths of the people closest to him. These visions come to him in his dreams and, following a disastrous attempt to save a childhood friend from drowning, a set of terrifying events begins to unfold. Finally, as a young man, he finds redemption in the arms of Ashling, his beautiful wife. But then the visions return…
Set in the fictional Dublin suburb of Rathgorman, Confessions of a Fallen Angel is a truly remarkable debut novel that will grip you from the first line and surprise you to the last.

This is a story about one man’s struggle to live an ordinary life in extraordinary circumstances; about love lost and found and the vast range of emotions that can be weathered by the human heart.

About the author
Ronan O’Brien is a solicitor who specialises in the area of criminal law. He is originally from Dublin but now lives in Co. Kildare.  This is his first book.

For more information, please contact Peter McNulty, Hachette Ireland, peter.mcnulty@hbgi.ie tel; + 35318246288