Denyse Woods largely writes travel fiction and, given her long-standing fascination for the Middle East, has written a trio of novels set in the Arab world. Her most recent novel, Of Sea and Sand, celebrates the landscapes and lore of Oman; Like Nowhere Else is a love letter to Yemen; and Overnight to Innsbruck is a travel thriller set in Egypt and Sudan. In her short collection, Indian Pacific and other travels, Denyse again revisits deserts.

Setting and travel are also centre-stage in Denyse Devlin novels, where the characters can never stay still for long and love keeps landing on the wrong shoulders and in the wrong place. But Ireland is the true soul in Denyse’s work, be it Woods or Devlin on the cover.