She was dressed in gold, white and taupe, a Greek goddess waltzing through the room, welcoming friends to her party. "I don't want anything to get in the way of drinking and talking," said Clare Boylan, who celebrated the publication of her new novel, Beloved Stranger, last Thursday in Dublin.
There was a Grecian vibe to the night as friends and family enjoyed a range of Mediterranean treats from goat's cheese and figs to strawberries and wine. They chatted away as the sun went down - well, they couldn't see the sun from Mary Kenny's elegant flat on Kildare Street but outside it got darker and the party continued well into the night.
Boylan's husband of 29 years, journalist Alan Wilkes, was by her side as was her sister, psychologist Patricia Ryan, and her niece Evelyn Ryan. "I love the idea of a party, my own life is quite reclusive," observed the writer who refused to indulge in any speechifying - "it's the ruin of parties when people start giving speeches".
The book deals with "a long-married devoted couple where the husband's mind begins to disintegrate and he turns into a hostile stranger," she explains. "He suffers from manic depression. It's inspired by my own father, who was a manic depressive."