Alison Norrington was born in Brentwood and has worked for British Telecom in London for Ford Motor Company at Warley, Dunton and Aveley.

After leaving Ford she went to work on the Greek Island of Kos and after a few disastrous weeks working in a beach hut doing t-shirt printing, and then finding herself scrubbing a shop floor with a toothbrush, she decided it was time to go home. She returned to Brentwood, and decided to visit her family in Wexford Ireland. She liked the place so much she didn’t return to Essex for three years, and has divided her time between Brentwood and Wexford ever since.

As she approached her 30^th birthday her brother sent her a birthday card which inspired Class Act. “My 30^th birthday was looming and I was dreading it. I simply wasn’t ‘where’ I thought I would be at 30 and as Ian gave me the card suggesting that I enjoy my birthday with ‘passion, attitude and alcohol’ it made me realise what was missing, and the idea for Class Act was born.”

It took Alison a year to write the book, and after spending a small fortune on padded envelopes and postage, and viewing a slowly growing pile of rejection letters, she got a call from Poolbeg, inviting her to meet with them in their Dublin offices.

So Alison signed a 3-book deal with Poolbeg, and has written Class Act, which was published in January 2003 and was a bestseller, Look Before You Leap – February 2004, and Three of a Kind – April 2005. She realises how lucky she is to be published by Poolbeg and has a lot of time for anyone trying to secure a publishing deal. “You have to be determined. Try to disassociate yourself from the creative side of your work, and send out your manuscripts to as many agents or publishers as possible. If you try to view the whole thing as a ‘marketing’ exercise it helps soften the blow when that next ‘thanks but no thanks’ letter slaps onto the doormat. Just keep going – keep trying.”

Alison knows how lucky she is to have two brilliant groups of friends, some in Essex and some in Wexford and hopes to continue living her life between these two places that she calls ‘home’.

Alison has written numerous articles for Irish media, The Irish Star, Irish Tatler, Evening Herald and has appeared on Irish national television twice to discuss her books, ‘ireland am’ on channel TV3, and ‘Open House’ on RTE.

She is currently working on her 4th novel, which, as yet, she has no name for!