Caroline O’Donoghue Books In Order

Publication Order of All Our Hidden Gifts Books

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Anthologies

Caroline O’Donoghue is a journalist and bestselling author who is best known for her literary fiction works. As a journalist, she worked for the likes of “Harper’s Bazaar,” “The Pool” and “Grazia.” She is also the host of a podcast titled “Sentimental Garbage,” that’s a celebration of women’s fiction works. As an author, she made her debut in 2018 when she published the novel “Promising Young Women,” which went on to become a huge success. On publication of the novel, she made the shortlist for Newcomer of the Year at the Irish Book Awards and was also nominated for the Kate O’Brien Award. “Scenes of a Graphic Nature” her second novel came out in 2020 and made the longlist for the Ondaatje Prize for fiction. Her first young adult novel was the 2021 published title “All Our Hidden Gifts” under Walker Publishing. The novel was her biggest yet as it was acquired for a six figure sum in 2019. O’Donoghue now lives with her partner and their terrier in London.

O’Donoghue was born and brought up in the city of Cork in the southernmost part of Ireland. It was a beautiful place to grow up in and she had a very happy childhood. As she grew older, she would visit the city and the nearby beaches from where she would spend hours thinking of stories in her head. As a twelve year old, all she wanted to become was an author. Writing was always one thing she was so sure she could do well and hence she never struggled with career choice. As an eighteen year old, she lost much of her confidence as she did badly in school. She finally gave up on the dream of becoming an author and started thinking that maybe she should do other things. At some point, she thought that being the wife of an author would be good enough. Caroline loved to travel she also started thinking of careers that involved a lot of travel such as air hostess and wildlife photographer. She believes it could have been a sign of her unhappiness as she wanted to do anything to get away. Now a successful author, there is nothing else she would rather be.

As for her inspiration, Caroline O’Donoghue has said that she loved Terry Jones “Lady Cottington’s Pressed Fairy Book.” The novel is a dark story of a little girl who derives pleasure from killing fairies. It was the first fantasy novel that she developed an obsession with even though at such a young age she did not understand the complexities in the story. However, it did ignite her love for bizarre things. Growing up, she often hated that male critics dismissively reviewed films she liked such as “The Witches of Eastwick” and “The First Wives Club.” This caused O’Donoghue to develop the belief that women’s works ought to be made by and for men and had to be championed and celebrated on their own terms. Recently, she started working with Dolly Alderton and together they have created “Sentimental in the City,” a mini series inspired by “Sex and the City.” Their entertaining podcast usually reviews each season of “Sex and the City.”
“Promising Young Women” by Caroline O’Donoghue is the story of a woman named Jane whose life is in transition. She is in a relationship with a man she thought was her soul mate and it is not going well. While it does seem like anyone would do it, she has never asked for more. She is never given a promise, taken to dinner or told why his marriage is falling apart. On her twenty sixth birthday, she finds herself adrift at her job, recently single and intrigued by her married and much older boss who loves to sing to her. In the meantime, Jolly Politely, her online agony aunt and also her alter ego seems to have all the answers. She has often provided cutting and insightful insights into the most vexing questions of contemporary life to total strangers. Things come to a head at a party where she kisses Clem, her boss. It is surprising that she does not follow the advice she doses out as Jolly, preferring to plunge head first into an affair. It is a relationship that could jeopardise her career, friendships and her own life.

“Scenes of a Graphic Nature” by Caroline O’Donoghue is the story of Charlie Regan who has decided to go back since she cannot move forward. After several years watching her father’s health on the decline, experimenting with pornograpjhy and going nowhere in the British film industry, she decides to go back to where it all started. She travels back to an island off the Irish West coast named Clipim, which happens to be her ancestral home. Her best friend Laura tags along on the journey to give her the moral support she so desperately needs. She knows this could be the last chance to connect with her father as he could be gone any time. She is clinging to her Irish roots as a last hope and solace only to realize that there is more to it than clover foamed Guinness and cliches. When the two women land in Clipim, Charlie begins to question the childhood stories she had been told by her father and the difficult relationship she always had with her best friend Laura. It is not long before she finds herself deep in a conspiracy that has been brewing for several decades. She is the best person to unearth and expose the conspiracy and the people behind it. Caroline O’Donoghue writes a delicious story that tells of the return of a prodigal.

Caroline O’Donoghue’s “All Our Hidden Gifts” is the story of Maeve, a girl who decides to clean out her closet only to find a pack of tarot cards. She had recently been suspended from the St Bernadette Catholic School and soon after became everyone’s favorite diviner at school. But Lily, her former best friend, draws “The Housekeeper,” which is unsettling given that Maeve does not remember seeing it before. The session soon after degenerates into a shouting match and Maeve wishes that Lily would just disappear. When she did not come to school the following week, word started to spread that she had disappeared. Maeve then finds herself public enemy number one and struggles to preserve her young relationship with Roe who is the missing girl’s gender fluid sibling. Maeve needs to dig deep into her tarot cards to find out what happened to Lily. It is a gripping and witty contemporary story with a tinge of mysticism.