She Walked Away Without Looking Back
I met her outside the Gaiety Theatre on a wet Thursday evening, the kind of Dublin rain that doesn’t fall so much as hang in the air and follow you around. I…
The Weekend in Galway I Never Told Anyone About
I was twenty-eight, living in a flat near Rathmines, and pretending I was grand at a level that deserved an award. My mother had died the previous winter, my job in town…
I Fell in Love With My Therapist’s Advice, Not My Therapist
I started therapy because I had become the sort of person who apologised to doors after bumping into them. I was twenty-nine, living in a box room in Rathmines, working in an…
Our Love Story Began With a Drunken Kiss in Temple Bar
I used to tell people I met my husband in the most Dublin way possible: in the rain, outside a chipper, after a kiss I could barely remember and never quite forgot.…
The Girl Who Broke My Heart at Croke Park
I met Aoife outside Croke Park on a wet August Sunday, the sort of Dublin rain that doesn’t fall so much as hover, making everyone shine under the grey sky. I was…
I Read My Husband’s Messages and Everything Changed
I never thought of myself as the kind of woman who would read someone else’s phone. I used to say that privacy was part of love, the small room you left untouched…
The Couple Everyone Envied Was Secretly Falling Apart
People used to tell us we looked like the kind of couple Dublin was invented for. Rain on the windows, two pints on a small table, his hand over mine like a…
She Wanted a Family, I Wanted Freedom
I was thirty-two when Maeve asked me the question I had been dodging for nearly three years. We were walking along the canal near Portobello, sharing chips from a paper bag, the…
The Most Passionate Kiss Happened Just Before Goodbye
I met Clara on a Tuesday evening when the rain had made mirrors of the footpaths around Dublin. I was standing outside a small café near Grand Canal Dock, pretending to read…
I Stayed Because the Sex Was Incredible
I used to tell my friends I stayed because he was complicated. That sounded more dignified than the truth. The truth was that when he touched me, every sensible part of me…