Emily Hourican is the author of eight novels and one book of non-fiction. She has been an award-winning editor and journalist with the Sunday Independent, Ireland’s biggest-selling newspaper, for over 20 years.
Her first novel, The Privileged, was published in 2016, became an instant bestseller, and was short-listed for the Best Popular Fiction Award at the 2016 Irish Book Awards.
Her fourth novel, The Outsider, is being developed as a six-part TV series with Treasure Films.
Emily was born in Belfast and grew up in Brussels. In 1990 she moved to Dublin, where she studied English and History, then earned a Masters in English Literature. She lives in Dublin with her husband, David, and three children.
Her fifth novel, The Glorious Guinness Girls, was published in September 2020, a top ten bestseller, and was short-listed in the Best Popular Fiction category at the 2020 Irish Book Awards.
Her sixth novel, and second in the Guinness Girls series, The Guinness Girls: A Hint of Scandal, was published in October 2021 and short-listed in the 2021 Irish Book Awards in the National Book Tokens Popular Fiction Book of the Year category.
It was published in the US as Mummy Darlings, and picked as a ‘Best Read’ by Graydon Carter’s Air Mail magazine.
Her seventh novel, A Question of Honor, The Other Guinness Girl, was described as ‘a gloriously good read’ by Life Magazine.
The fourth in the Guinness Girls series, An Invitation To The Kennedys, was published in September 2023, and was another top ten bestseller.
She is currently working on the fifth in the series, The Kennedys at War, to be published in September 2024.