Galway writer's Mafiosa novel making international waves

Galway writer Catherine Doyle, who is at the vanguard of the Youth Adult genre, has just released Mafiosa – the third and final book in the Blood for Blood trilogy – and it has already gone down a storm.

Mafiosa tells the story of Sophie, who – protected by an infamous mafia family – is living a dangerous lie, while pretending to lead a normal life.

Her heart belongs to a killer and Sophie’s the prime target of a rival clan. She’s determined to seek revenge on her mother’s murderers, but can she pay the price – can she be a mafiosa?

It’s the final instalment in Catherine’s YA Blood for Blood series which started with Vendetta and Inferno – and a host of her fellow Youth Adult writers made the trip from the UK to Dublin for the official launch last week.

So, too did a host of her old school friends from the Taylor's Hill Leaving Cert class of 2007, supporting the 26 year old whose own story publishing history reads like a novel in its own right – after she was spotted by the publisher who’d previously signed JK Rowling!

The 26-year-old, with a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology and a Master’s Degree in Literature & Publishing, wrote her debut book, Vendetta, in secret, spending the twilight hours tied to the computer for 29 consecutive nights until the first draft emerged.

She then attached the first three chapters to emails addressed to potential agents. It was only after she had been taken on by her preferred agent in London that she revealed to her family that she had written a book and was now trying to get a publishing deal.

“They were so relieved, they were wondering what on earth I was doing in my room all that time not sleeping,” she said.

The real icing on the cake came when agent Claire Wilson broke the news that Chicken House were interested in signing the Galway author.

Its owner Barry Cunningham had signed JK Rowling after her Harry Potter novel had been rejected by twelve other publishers, a tale that Catherine had written about in her college thesis.

Catherine was raised in a house full of books with her two brothers by her mother, Renmore-based GP Grace Doyle, and her father, principal of ‘the Bish’ boys’ secondary school, Ciaran Doyle.

It was her mum who convinced Catherine to join her on a creative writing course as a favour – but Catherine quickly found that her confidence soared and she gained the self-belief necessary to put pen to paper.

Her meteoric rise to the top of the book charts continues unabated and Mafiosa is already a best seller – with talk of movie adaptations already in the air.

It looks like the sky’s the limit for the Galway girl who is now a literary success story – to the power of three!