# Cathy Kelly

Cathy Kelly (born September 12, 1966) is an Irish writer of women's fiction and a former journalist. In 2001, her novel Someone Like You won the Romantic Novel of the Year Award from the Romantic Novelists' Association.

## Life and career

Born in Belfast but raised in Dublin, Kelly studied at a convent school. She was a journalist for the Sunday World, where she published an advice column and film criticism.
Kelly published her first book Woman To Woman, which became an international bestseller, in 1997. She published two more books, She’s The One and Never Too Late, before retiring from journalism in 2001.
Someone Like You, What She Wants, Just Between Us, and Best of Friends followed in successive years. Always and Forever was her first hardback to reach number one, then it topped the overall UK bestseller list in October 2005.
Her books Lessons in Heartbreak and Homecoming were shortlisted for the Eason Irish Popular Fiction Book of the Year at the Irish Book Awards. Once in a Lifetime topped the UK bestsellers again for multiple weeks. In March 2011, Homecoming did the same. Her short story collection, Christmas Magic, was the Christmas number one in Ireland. She is a number one bestseller in Australia and New Zealand, where she tours annually, and her works have been translated into many different languages.
Kelly is involved with many charities and has been an ambassador for UNICEF Ireland since 2005.
In 2022, Kelly appeared on the fifth series of the Irish version of Dancing With the Stars.

## Published works
### Novels

* Woman to Woman (1997)
* She's the One (1998)
* Never Too Late (1999)
* Someone Like You (2000)
* What She Wants (2001)
* Just Between Us (2002)
* Best of Friends (2003)
* Always and Forever (2005)
* Past Secrets (2006)
* Lessons in Heartbreak (2008)
* Once in a Lifetime (2009)
* The Perfect Holiday (2010)
* Homecoming (2010)
* The House on Willow Street (2012)
* The Honey Queen (2013)
* It Started With Paris (2014)
* Between Sisters (2015)
* Secrets of a Happy Marriage (2017)

### Novellas

* Letter from Chicago (2002)

### Collections

* Christmas Magic (2011)

## References and sources

* ↑ "Cathy Kelly goes from agony aunt to bestselling novelist". Brisbane Courier-Mail. 27 August 2010. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
* ↑ "Awards". RNA. Retrieved 14 January 2024.
* 1 2 3 4 Askin, Pauline (1 April 2009). "Book Talk: Modern, ancient Ireland inspire novelist Cathy Kelly". Reuters. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
* 1 2 3 4 "Home". Cathy Kelly. 6 March 2012.
* ↑ Burke-Kennedy, Eoin (1 April 2009). "Eclectic shortlist for Irish Book Awards". The Irish Times. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
* ↑ Byrne, Andrea (20 September 2009). "Literary elite bring their words to life". Irish Independent. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
* ↑ Stone, Philip (15 September 2009). "Cathy Kelly stays on top for HarperCollins". The Bookseller. Archived from the original on 19 January 2010. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
* ↑ "Cathy Kelly". Curtis Brown. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
* ↑ "what you can do to help unicef". Irish Independent. 12 December 2009. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
* ↑ Fetherstonhaugh, Neil (14 December 2021). "Author Cathy Kelly to compete on Dancing with the Stars". SundayWorld.com. Retrieved 13 January 2024.
* ↑ "Secrets of a Happy Marriage by Cathy Kelly". Fantastic Fiction. Retrieved 29 January 2017.