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McLysaght, Emer. "Emer McLysaght: Apparently I'm a 'Geriatric Millennial'. I have found my people". The Irish Times. Aisling is at that age where all around her people are getting married. Surely she’s next. After all, she and her boyfriend John have been together for seven years. When a romantic getaway turns into a disaster, Aisling decides it’s time to move on. Leaving John behind, she moves from her tiny village to the bright lights of Dublin. Breen and McLysaght first developed Aisling as a bit of fun, a way of noticing young women “up from the country”, working and living in Dublin (McLysaght is originally from Kildare and Breen is from Carlow). When their Aisling Facebook group had grown to tens of thousands of members, Irish publishers Gill approached them about writing a book. The series has now sold almost 475,000 copies. Five books later, and Aisling is firmly embedded in Irish popular culture alongside characters such as Paul Howard’s Ross O’Carroll-Kelly and Marian Keyes’s Walsh family. Recalling tougher times, Emer went on: “We published the first two books one year after the other 2017/2018 and we did the first three books in a row and it was kind of expected then that we would continue like that and do one every year. Emer McLysaght on her comfort reads, favourite Irish author and the toughest part of writing OMGWACA". VIP Magazine. 14 December 2020.
We first meet Aisling as she’s attending a wedding with her boyfriend John, from a neighbouring rival village, and wistfully wondering when it’ll be her turn to get hitched and build a “McMansion” on the bit of land her dad has set aside for her. There are universal elements to Aisling that make her relatable to almost anyone, anywhere, but she is written through a uniquely Irish lexicon – she is the Irish mammy so many of us have and are, and also the Irish daughter, the fish-out-of-water country girl in the big smoke, the young woman simultaneously navigating independence and her desire for a traditional relationship, the Irish person ensconced in a tight community in which they legitimately feel a sense of belonging.
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Aisling never loses her essential Aisling-ness, but earns a new perspective on the bounds of her comfort zone, and a new level of empathy as she realises those around her may have struggles that aren’t visible on the surface. When a week in Tenerife with John doesn’t end with the expected engagement, Aisling calls a halt to things and soon she has surprised herself and everyone else by agreeing to move into a three-bed in Portobello with stylish Sadhbh from HR and her friend, the mysterious Elaine. This is an edited extract from Oh My God, What A Complete Aisling: The Novel by Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen, published by Gill Books ( €14.99) Irish Book Awards Popular Fiction Book of the Year – Once, Twice, Three Times an Aisling [ citation needed]
For a dyed-in-the-wool farmer, Daddy is low-key obsessed with soaps, especially the Australian ones. I think part of him longs for a bit of escapism. He doesn’t get much glamour moving sheep and cattle around all day. Motherhood rears its head, too, as Aisling and her friends each try to figure out how they might engage with the narrow template of job-marriage-children that women in their 30s are often faced with. Mercifully, the Aisling series gives us many nonjudgmental and alternative options. The message remains an empowering one: be yourself, find your joy, and the other stuff will find you. That rare, precious thing: a fictional character you care about like a friend. It's a joy to spend time with Aisling again' LISA McGEE, creator of DERRY GIRLS Authors Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen created 'Aisling' when they were living in a flat share in Stoneybatter 10 years ago, and said the character was inspired by a 'very particular type' of Irish girl. READ MORE: Electric Picnic speculation rife that popular band could reunite for surprise appearanceThe authors said: "[Aisling is] Someone we aspire to be more like. Since our first book was published we’ve been blown away by the number of people, male and female, who proudly declare they are 'complete Aislings'. Read More Related Articles John’s driving me mad.” The words fall out of my mouth accidentally. “He said that ourselves getting married any time in the near future was a bit of a far-fetched idea.” So who is Aisling? In short, she’s the Irish everywoman who over the past six years and five books has become a runaway publishing success story. Co-author Sarah Breen summed her up best for this newspaper in 2017. “Aisling’s the country girl who works up in Dublin but has precisely zero time for your city notions, thank you very much. She loves working in the Big Smoke – very sophisticated altogether – but she loves going Down Home every weekend even more ... Aisling loves a good wake; Aisling has never hidden from the television licence inspector; Aisling knows the Weight Watchers points in everything.”
But Aisling, never one to worry about having too much on her plate, rolls up her sleeves: she's got this. Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling was released last year and has already found a place in common parlance and Irish culture. Even if they don't know the Aisling of the novel, they certainly know an Aisling. We all do in Ireland. If you don't know an Aisling, it is because you are an Aisling. She's from outside Dublin and goes "down home" at weekends, is going steady with a long-term boyfriend from her hometown and walks to work in trainers (to get her steps in) while carrying her court shoes in a Brown Thomas bag. Oh My God, What a Complete Aisling made me smile and laugh, and though she's odd in many ways, I really warmed to Aisling - seeing the world through her eyes is so entertaining, and left my hugely amused. Her observations on other people and their habits are brilliant. Some parts are ridiculous but that's all part of the fun, and there are some much more serious moments too - it's not all light and fluffy.Sarah and I never expected our first book to sell even a thousand copies when it was released in 2017. We thought we might manage a few hundred between friends, family and the members of a Facebook group we’d created to share the Aisling character we’d created 10 years earlier. Irish duo Sarah Breen and EmerMcLysaght admitted emotions were running high as the final instalment of their popular series of novels hit shelves on Monday. Armed with her best wrap dress and heels, Aisling boards a business-class flight to New York to start a new adventure.
The final Aisling book, Aisling Ever After, is an homage to all she’s been through. It details not only how far Aisling has come but, in a way, how far we’ve all come.' This book is full on Irish dialogue right from the get go, I honestly had to read the opening sentence three times before I understood what it meant. I still don't actually know what 'being a gas' actually means - is it funny?I think we have a little bit of Aisling in all of us so it's really easy to identify with her. I found myself getting quite emotional in some of the lifelike, sobering scenes but it wasn't long before I found myself laughing again. Emer McLysaght and Sarah Breen need to bottle Aisling and prescribe her in place of anti-depressants; I can't imagine anyone reading it without a smile on their face.
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