They had everything. But sometimes everything isn't enough ...
In an exclusive all girls' secondary school, they become friends. They choose the same university, and through smoke-filled nights, lectures, sexual encounters and first loves, their bond deepens: a friendship which seems like it will last for evermore.
But then, at an end-of-year party, something happens which changes everything ...
Afterwards, they drift apart. Now Stella, a lawyer in New York, lives for her work; Laura, a struggling journalist in Dublin, is still waiting for the scoop to kick-start her career; while Amanda, broken and beautiful, lives a life of slow decay in London.
Then the phone call comes which brings them back together, to the friendship they swore would last, and the night when it all went wrong.
THE PRIVILEGED is a haunting tale of friendship, loyalty and how one decision, one night, can decide the future.
[A] lively and entertaining saga of friendship, family and fate - Sunday Independent
[Hourican] has perfected the high-wire feat between lush description and keeping the plot shuttling along at a pleasing pace ... As with most great writing, The Privileged packs plenty of truth and social commentary beneath its story - Irish Independent
You won't be able to put it down - Stellar magazine
Vibrant characters, finely-observed social backdrops and universal themes of love, friendship and survival ... The Privileged is well-written, thoughtful commercial fiction that tells a compelling story ... A Circle of Friends for the 21st century - Irish Times
Emily Hourican is a journalist and author. She has written features for the Sunday Independent for fifteen years, as well as Image magazine, CondA Nast Traveler and Woman and Home. She was also editor of The Dubliner Magazine.
Emily's first book, a memoir titled How To (Really) Be A Mother was published in 2013. She is also the author of novels The Privileged, White Villa, The Outsider and The Blamed, as well as three novels about the Guinness sisters: The Glorious Guinness Girls, The Guinness Girls: A Hint of Scandal and The Other Guinness Girl.
She lives in Dublin with her family.