Heather Aimee O'Neill

Writer Heather Aimee O’Neill spoke to Leo Sidran about her debut novel and about how she knew it was time to come out of the shadows as a writer.

Before The Irish Goodbye became one of the most acclaimed debut novels of 2025, Heather Aimee O'Neill spent years quietly writing it while building a career helping other writers tell their stories. Here she discusses the vulnerability of ambition, the challenge of living an authentic life, and the strange transition from observer to protagonist.