Rosita Sweeman's Fathers Come First is a coming-of-age classic set against a Dublin-city backdrop. Elizabeth is both gauche and perspicacious, walking the edge of her stereotypes while hobbled by the pressures of acceptance - social, physical and sexual. In a world informed by a Catholic upbringing, she wonders whether her indiscretions belong in the letterbox or the confession box.

Curious, unflinching and disarmingly honest, teenager turned twenty-something Lizzie speaks to the changes and continuities in Irish society across forty years. It is a novel as relevant today as when it was first published.

'This book is more pertinent than ever, because 40 years on, women are still confused about sex and destiny. And fathers still come first - in the political sphere, the artistic sphere.'   Anne Harris, The Sunday Independent.