Helena Close and Patricia Rainsford hail from Limerick City and have been best friends since age 14. Having collaborated on everything from teenage romance to weddings, babies and career paths, it was only a matter of time before they collaborated on a book: bringing to life the wonderful new heroine Ellen Grace, a Bridget Jones with Irish attitude.

Respectively a journalist and a teacher by profession, both women live in Limerick with an assortment of children, husbands, cats and dogs.