'I began writing a book about trying to be beautiful. But the more I wrote, the more it resembled a book about trying to be normal'

Weaving critical commentary with personal experience, the author explores Botox, blondeness, exercise addiction, and subcultures including the underground drag scene and competitive dog shows to better understand how beauty is judged and defined.

From Berlin nightclubs to rural Mayo, from Versailles to the Ringsend Recycling Centre, Kiberd takes us on a journey of obsession led by the question: am I normal yet?

‘I enjoyed following Roisin to extremes in the pursuit of beauty, revealing subcultures I have never before considered – from the psychology of selling designer handbags to the high absurdity of dog and muscle shows. The parts I do have experience of – Berlin, blondeness – rang true. The essay on perfume is a sensational piece of writing. This collection sits somewhere between Joan Didion and Louis Theroux, with its own digital-Euro panache. I recommend it for those of us who know that Botox is political.’ Amy Liptrot

‘The Most Normal Woman is invigorating, stylish, deeply humane and endlessly fun to read. In all their variety and vitality, these superb essays combine into a beguiling and unnerving reflection of contemporary selfhood in the capitalist wilderness of mirrors.’  Mark O’Connell

‘The Most Normal Woman delivers all of the shrewdness and sharp wit we’ve come to expect of Roisin Kiberd as well as a huge dose of tenderness and poignancy. I challenge anyone not to find kinship in these pages, or to be awed, amused, and enlightened.’ Sara Baume

Roisin Kiberd has written essays and features for The Dublin Review, Winter Papers, The White Review, The Guardian and Vice. Her first book, The Disconnect: A Personal Journey Through the Internet, was published in 2021. She lectures in creative writing at the University of Galway and is non-fiction editor at The Stinging Fly.