It's Aisling Day! The Importance of Being Aisling OUT NOW!

It’s Aisling Day!

With the highly anticipated follow-up to 2017’s most successful fiction debut, Oh My God, What A Complete Aisling, now in bookshops all over Ireland, the authors and their publisher, Gill Books, share a new video to remind us of our favourite Aisling traits, and offer a sneak preview of what’s in store for the sequel, The Importance of Being Aisling.

Taking up where book one left off, Aisling is now 29 and she’s still a complete Aisling. After a tough year, things seem to be going well for Aisling and boyfriend John, and life with her flatmates Sadhbh and Elaine in their notiony Dublin apartment is more craic than ever. However, readers can expect big changes for Aisling in book two when a shock development sees her moving back Down Home. Can she give up the sophistication of brunch and unlimited Pinot Greej? Will she and Mammy kill each other living back under the same roof? And where does that leave her and John? The storyline includes a hilarious girls’ trip to Vegas which gives Aisling some unexpected confidence that sees her making the decision to grab Ballygobbard by the horns with a new venture.

Fans can expect the same brilliant combination of hilarity and heart from book two, including a surprise engagement, a very public brawl, new friends and nasty foes, and of course a return of much-loved favourite characters Majella and Mammy!

The Aisling character was conceived by authors Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen in their Stoneybatter flat share in 2008 when they pulled together the many traits, characteristics and quirks of a very particular type of Irish girl: one they identified around them and one they identified with. Aisling’s popularity stems from her relatability – she is practical and conscientious, sensible and loyal, and she rejects notions of any kind.

Kind and pragmatic, the authors describe Aisling as, ‘Someone we aspire to be more like. Since our first book was published we’ve been blown away by the number of people, male and female, who proudly declare they are “Complete Aislings”. She’s the type of woman who keeps everything together, hence the title of the sequel, The Importance of Being Aisling.’

Authors and best friends, writing-duo Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen have had a whirlwind year since their first book became an instant sensation when it was published in August 2017. It quickly hit the No 1 slot, garnering high praise from fiction-writing stalwarts like Paul Howard, Marian Keyes and Louise O’Neill. It has even travelled across the pond and proven a hit in the UK (despite the many distinctly Irish phrases that proved a challenge for UK editors!). Oh My God, What A Complete Aisling is also set to hit the silver screen soon and the authors recently completed writing the screenplay, juggled with a hectic year travelling around the country meeting Aisling fans at literary festivals.

The authors will be promoting the book from tonight with their first appearance on The Late Late Show, a sure sign that Aisling has entered national treasure territory! They will be signing copies of the book at Easons, O’Connell Street on Saturday, 22 September from 3 p.m. and at Newbridge Silverware Showrooms on Sunday, 23 September at 1.30 p.m.

Check out this hilarious video of authors Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen on what makes Aisling a complete Aisling: bit.ly/AislingDay18