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Breen and McLysaght first developed Aisling as a bit of fun, a way of noticing young women “up from the country”, working and living in Dublin (McLysaght is originally from Kildare and Breen is from Carlow). When their Aisling Facebook group had grown to tens of thousands of members, Irish publishers Gill approached them about writing a book. The series has now sold almost 475,000 copies. Five books later, and Aisling is firmly embedded in Irish popular culture alongside characters such as Paul Howard’s Ross O’Carroll-Kelly and Marian Keyes’s Walsh family. Aisling is at that age where all around her people are getting married. Surely she’s next. After all, she and her boyfriend John have been together for seven years. When a romantic getaway turns into a disaster, Aisling decides it’s time to move on. Leaving John behind, she moves from her tiny village to the bright lights of Dublin. Oh My God, I am such a complete Aisling!!! From her fallen arches to her love of carbs and knowledge of points in every morsel, I connected with Aisling in a way that I have never really connected with other characters before. Maybe it is because I am Irish and therefore could relate to so much of Aisling's life and see similarities EVERYWHERE 😂 but mainly I think it was because Aisling is a little bit of everyone we know as well as a little bit of ourselves and to be honest I wouldn't want it any other way. McLysaght, Emer. "Emer McLysaght: Apparently I'm a 'Geriatric Millennial'. I have found my people". The Irish Times. When a week in Tenerife with John doesn’t end with the expected engagement, Aisling calls a halt to things, and soon she has surprised herself and everyone else by agreeing to move into a three-bed in Portobello with stylish Sadhbh from HR and her friend, the mysterious Elaine. Newly single and relocated to the big city, life is about to change utterly for this wonderful, strong, surprising and funny girl, who just happens to be a complete Aisling.
Because when you're recovering from a broken heart and struggling to keep your café as sizzling as your award-winning sausages, it's hard to feel you've really made it as an adult. So weit, so gut. Für mich klang das nach einer starken Protagonistin, einem großen Abenteuer und einem Befreiungsschlag, um Träume zu verwirklichen. Nun ja, in dieser Hinsicht wurde ich leider enttäuscht. Aisling verhält sich so, dass sie dem Titel "OMG, diese Aisling!" mehr als gerecht wird. Denn wie oft habe ich über sie den Kopf geschüttelt, mir an den Kopf gefasst und gegen die Stirn geschlagen?
We say goodbye to the national treasure in Aisling Ever After.
So maybe a few things were slightly over the top, some a tad stereotypical and some a bit predictable, but it really didn’t matter. This is just one of those stories where you go with the flow, don’t overthink things and let the wonderfulness that is Aisling fill your heart with joy. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting her, her family and her friends and I’m quietly hoping that maybe there may be a sequel some day. I have no doubt Aisling has many more stories to tell! Beside me, John is horsing into the contents of his second trip to the buffet. He looks so cute that I can’t stop myself reaching out and squeezing his hand affectionately. His plain white T-shirt is inside out, I’ve just noticed – the big gom. He looks up from his sausage sandwich and raises his eyebrows quizzically. Which why now is NOT the time for a delicious new man to show up, her best friend to demand the hen do of the century and a surprise celebrity appearance . . .
a b McLysaght, Emer; Breen, Sarah. "What a Complete Aisling: The story of a very particular type of Irish girl". The Irish Times. Denise is twenty-seven,” I reply quietly. “She didn’t do Transition Year. She thought it was only a doss and that it would get her out of the routine of studying – she actually never shut up about it . . .” Sarah and I never expected our first book to sell even a thousand copies when it was released in 2017. We thought we might manage a few hundred between friends, family and the members of a Facebook group we’d created to share the Aisling character we’d created 10 years earlier. The hotly anticipated second book in the Aisling trilogy, The Importance of Being Aisling, is set for release on September 20th. The women I am having brunch with (brunch is a "notions" meal observed by notions Dublin types, and Aisling would strongly favour a sandwich with chips on the side) tell stories of Aislings they know or work with, or tell stories about themselves in an attempt to prove they are "actually a complete Aisling really".He shakes a startled Tiger onto the floor and she stalks out, glaring at me like it’s my fault – which, technically, it is.
Beware: you will laugh out loud whilst reading Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling. I tittered, chortled and guffawed all of the way through it but there are some serious notes which makes it scarily true to life. So (to quote Monty Python) even though this book makes you look on the bright side of life, it reminds us that sometimes life is a piece of shit, when you look at it... READ MORE: Electric Picnic speculation rife that popular band could reunite for surprise appearance Aisling is a small-town country girl who loves her Daddy, a good hotel breakfast, jeans and a nice top, and her boyfriend of seven years, John. So who is Aisling? In short, she’s the Irish everywoman who over the past six years and five books has become a runaway publishing success story. Co-author Sarah Breen summed her up best for this newspaper in 2017. “Aisling’s the country girl who works up in Dublin but has precisely zero time for your city notions, thank you very much. She loves working in the Big Smoke – very sophisticated altogether – but she loves going Down Home every weekend even more ... Aisling loves a good wake; Aisling has never hidden from the television licence inspector; Aisling knows the Weight Watchers points in everything.”The book opens with Aisling living the dream, dating a bona fide New York fireman and working for an events company in Manhattan that organises parties for celebrities. But when Aisling’s ex-boyfriend John shows up in the first chapter with a marriage proposal, she is forced to reassess what she wants. Is her heart in New York or her hometown of Ballygobbard (or Ballygobatshit, as her American boss likes to call it)? The book follows Aisling’s consideration of the question, along with several subplots, including a hen do, a pregnancy and some unexpected announcements. Some of the scenes are written with great tenderness and depth, while others are played for straight comedy.
Aisling (which, thanks to a long ago read Maeve Binchy novel I actually know how to pronounce) is a gas, a scream, a hoot and fiercely funny - to everyone else. Desperate for her boyfriend of seven years to propose, she finds herself in the unfortunate position of being in a toilet cubicle at yet another friend's wedding listening to two of the guests from her table chatting about her little idiosyncrasies. From that conversation we learn an awful lot about the type of woman Aisling is, and as we get in further it's revealed that she is also a good daughter to her parents, travelling up and down to her job in Dublin since her father was ill, although he's recovered now. She works hard and plays hard and thinks her future is settled with boyfriend John .. only, somehow, the magic proposal just hasn't materialised. Meanwhile, in Ballygobbard, it’s all go. Baby showers are the new hen parties, Mammy and Dr Trevor are more serious than Aisling thought, and the prospect of two evil stepsisters has her doubting her place in the family. Pulled between head, heart and home, Aisling strives to finally create her own happy ever after.”
Novelists for Yes
Aisling Ever After’ is on shelves now after Ireland, while the audio book is due to be released later. Author Sarah Breen On How Living With Friends Helped Invent The Iconic Character Of Aisling | Stellar". Thankfully Breen and McLysaght have left Aisling’s ending open to the possibility of more books and I’m holding out for a And Just Like That -style reboot in 25 years’ time when Aisling and the girls will walk the Camino. Edel Coffey
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