Irish writer Caroline O'Donoghue is enjoying the success of her debut novel, Promising Young Women.

Born and raised in Cork and now living in London, she has drawn on some of her own experiences for the book.

After doing an English degree at UCC, Caroline decided to move to London at 21 to pursue her dreams of being a writer. She spent time working in recruitment, on film sets and in advertising, the world in which the majority of her novel is set.

The book "started as a love triangle in an office, but then became darker and stranger."

Promising Young Women follows the story of Jane, who is in her twenties and finds herself adrift in her life when she realises she hasn't put down any real roots.

As a result of her vulnerabilities, she has an affair with her much older married boss. Her mental and physical health start to deteriorate and she stops being able to see the difference between reality and fiction.

Caroline emphasises that Jane's story is completely fictional, but it was partly inspired by the loneliness she herself felt when she first moved to London in 2011: "The first two years were misery. It was so hard to make friends."

"Being lonely is the hardest thing to admit because it sounds so sad and people automatically feel sorry for you."

She says that Irish people in London do see themselves as outsiders. "You blend in physically, you look like everybody else, but you feel very different."

Caroline also drew on her various workplace experiences, as she was struck by how many commonalities there are between different working environments.

"I think that was great training as an author because you learn how to observe people."

The book is dedicated to 'women in offices everywhere'. Caroline wanted to draw attention to "how the office isn't really set up for gender politics or for women's experiences at work."

She describes how women are often looked over for promotions, alienated because of pregnancy - or for not having a baby - and objectified. She thinks things have improved over the years, but that there is still some way to go.

"I think there has been a lot of change over the last few decades and there are obviously more women in senior management positions, but there is prejudice at work and people do try and pretend it doesn't exist."

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