A new novel by Sheila O'Flanagan is just out but the steamy sex scenes are quite a mystery. Her mother, Patricia O'Flanagan, washes her hands of Suddenly Single: "She didn't learn that from me," she says laughing. "I was brought up in a nunnery. I told her the facts of life but she's teaching me in the books."
Sheila's sister, Maureen Breslin, says the sex scenes are "relatively" steamy, adding hastily, "I don't give her any information. I don't know where she picks that up." Sheila's partner, Colm McCashin, says "I've never had an editorial role."
This is Sheila's fourth novel. Publisher Amanda Ridout, managing director of Headline, says the book is "just thrilling". Sheila's school friend, Bernie Jermyn, recalls their schooldays: "Instead of doing our homework we used to read her essays - she was always brilliant."