17-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Beginner's pluck: Writer and freelance journalist Caroline Madden
When the young Caroline wasn't reading, she was working in a riding school and writing about ponies.
'When I was eight or nine, a pony magazine published my poem. That was the lightbulb moment; I knew what I wanted to do with my life,' she said.
Lacking in confidence, Caroline went the sensible business route.
'After Trinity, I qualified as a tax consultant. But I was so bored one night, that I started writing a novel, and loved it,' she recalls.
I submitted to equestrian magazines, and by the time I qualified, I had enough work to not be a tax consultant.
Caroline moved from equestrian writing when The Irish Times offered her shifts.
'For years I wrote for the business section, and for different sections of the paper,' she said.
'I made enough to buy my own horse with a friend from college.
'It was a dream come true! But we sold the horse once we had children.'
By then, while finding it hard to balance shift work with childcare, Caroline ran creative writing classes for children: 'There was a huge demand for it. I published books for them.'
The Marriage Vendetta started off as a historical novel. After many rejections, Caroline rewrote it in a modern setting and sold it at auction.
Who is Caroline Madden?
Date/ place of birth: 1980/ Longford.
Education: Scoil Mhuire in Longford; Trinity College Dublin, management science.
Home: Malahide, Co Dublin.
Family: Children, Rose, 12, Jack, 9, and a bichon, Benjie.
The day job: Writing, and freelance journalism.
In another life: 'I would run a livery yard in Wicklow and write pony books.'
Favourite writers: Roisin O'Donnell; Jilly Cooper; William Wall; Alba de Cespedes; Simone de Beauvoir; Claire Kilroy.
Second book: 'It's called the village and is set in Wicklow.'
Top tip: 'I loved Meg Madon's quote, 'if you apply this violent tenacity there will be some reward at the end'.'
Website:
Instagram: @carolinemaddenwriter
The debut
The Marriage Vendetta
Eriu, €14.99
A modern retelling of the relationship between Richard Sheridan and his wife Eliza.
The novel starts when Eliza receives a suggestive photo of Richard with another woman.
She turns to an unconventional therapist but doesn't realise how far the therapist will go to achieve results.
The verdict: A brilliant protagonist, Eliza is full of angry resentment.
