Perhaps the most sought-after novelist in Ireland at the moment, Louise O’Neill is at the homecoming end of a lengthy press run when she speaks to Hot Press from the Fitzwilliam Hotel in Dublin. She suggests that people are “sick of seeing my face” (she’s featured in multiple newspaper interviews recently, and also made a memorable appearance on The Late Late Show), but warns/promises that they’re likely to see a lot more of her in the months ahead.

“I have the next book coming in May,” she tells me, “and that’s already picking up now. So this would usually be winding down at this point, but because of The Surface Breaks, it hasn’t been.”

Following The Surface Breaks – O’Neill’s feminist retelling of The Little Mermaid – there’s the premiering of the stage adaption of Asking For It in June. Then in the midst of it all, Almost Love continues to fly off the shelves; O’Neill continues to pen a widely read Irish Examiner column; and the author herself continues to do book tours up and down the country. Meanwhile, talks are underway for TV and film productions of some of her earlier works, and more ideas are being discussed for the near future. Never mind the effort that must go into finding the inspiration for her searingly relatable writing – it’s incredible that O’Neill manages to find time for it all.