Ann Devine, Ready for Her Close-Up Colm O'Regan

‘Warm, charming and laugh-out-loud funny… Ann Devine, Ready For Her Close-Up is a little ray of sunshine, sure to delight’ Irish Independent

Meet Ann Devine, a riddle, wrapped up in a fleece, inside a Skoda Octavia.

Now that her youngest has flown the nest, Ann finds herself at a loose end. Until, that is, she is put forward for the Kilsudgeon Tidy Towns Committee.

Yet all is not neat and tidy in Kilsudgeon. There are strange sightings of people who aren’t local driving 4x4s with a yellow reg, a man bun requesting kefir in the restaurant and a quad bike at a funeral.

What does this have to do with rumours of a brand new television series to rival Game of Thrones? And what will it all mean for Kilsudgeon’s newly proposed town park?

A lot, as it happens.

As the town begins to fill up with the film crew, extras and a Hollywood star who is fond of the drink, everyone welcomes the chance to make a few bob and to finally get enough broadband to send an attachment.

Or nearly everyone. Harmony is threatened when the newcomers seem to be doing more damage than good and the last straw is when Ann’s pride and joy – a floral arrangement in a boat – is trashed. She’s about to discover what it means to go viral…

‘Warm-spirited, funny, dark when it needs to be, and – most importantly – underwritten by a scalpel-sharp ear for how Irish people really speak…O’Regan never gets it wrong’ Sunday Business Post

‘Ann Devine brings a smile to the face of rural Ireland…O’Regan satirises small-town Ireland with both affection and deadpan wit’ Sunday Times

‘This book captures something warm and wholesome … it feels indulgent and reminds the reader of home. Prepare to laugh and grimace at the antics of the Irish Mammy’ Irish Times

‘Everybody knows an Ann Devine … It’s hard to write a book that’s funny the whole way through, consistently funny with belly laughs … but Colm has done that’ Áine Toner, Ireland AM

‘Laugh-out-loud’ Irish Daily Mail

‘O’Regan taps into the wild, weird and woolly’ RTÉ Guide