There were lilies and roses, freesias and orchids lining her path. Writer Rose Doyle arrived at the packed Dublin Bookshop on Grafton Street for the launch of her book, Friends Indeed. Wearing a long fuschia dress-coat of shot-silk, she was greeted by all of her admirers, including her son Simon Boland (18).
The artist Mick O'Dea, whose work was on view in the Ashford Gallery in the Royal Hibernian Academy until recently, travelled from Ennis, Co Clare to salute Doyle.
Two men from the Curragh who directed Doyle in the right direction on her quest to uncover the story of the Wrens, the heroines in her story, were in mufti - Comdt Rory Hynes, librarian at the Defence Forces Training Centre, chatted to Comdt Victor Laing, archivist in Cathal Brugha Barracks. Reg Darling, chairman of the Curragh Local History Group and a professional barber, was another man who knew about the Wrens.
Clinical psychologist Marie Murray, who launched the book, said the Wrens "excite and delight, annoy and frustrate and tear your very soul apart with their obstinacy, courage and care for one another". It is "a difficult book to wake up out of", she said.
Also present was the Scottish film-maker Laurence Henson, who attended with his partner, writer Ruth Jacob. He is currently working on a film about his countryman John Grierson, who founded the British Documentary Film Movement. Grierson, said Henson, was greatly inspired by Robert O'Flaherty, of Man of Aran fame.
Also present were Sue Fletcher, Doyle's editor and deputy managing director of Hodder & Stoughton publishers; Sally Mimnagh, Eason's book purchasing manager; and writer John Connolly, whose next thriller, The White Road, is due out early in the new year. (Friends Indeed reviewed in Weekend 9).