SINÉAD O’HART lives in County Sligo, in the wild northwest of Ireland, known as “Yeats Country” because of its influence on the great poet. She has been many things, including a butcher’s assistant, a travel adviser, a writing instructor, an English tutor, a bookseller, and a proofreader, but the only thing she has ever really wanted to be is a reader and a writer. She has a PhD in Old and Middle English language and literature, which is a useful source of story material.