'I'VE been reading Patricia Cornwell's books for years, so it was amazing to find myself ahead of someone like her who's really famous," says author Sheila O'Flanagan with a laugh. Her latest paperback book, Suddenly Single, went straight in at number one in both Ireland and the UK.

"The last book went to number two in the UK, so it's really exciting this time. It's all about the book for me though, and people enjoying it and liking the characters is the most important thing."

It's typical of her modest demeanour that O'Flanagan's success still takes her by surprise, but she should be used to it by now, given that this is her 14th best-selling novel. She has also released two short-story collections, and two adult literacy novels for the Open Door series.

Before becoming a novelist, O'Flanagan had a very successful career in banking. It wasn't her ideal career choice, as she really wanted to work in a library, and when a job offer came in for a junior position at the Central Bank just after her Leaving Cert, she was away on holiday.

As she had previously rejected a similar offer, her mother Patty decided to accept the job on her behalf.

O'Flanagan came home, threw her eyes up to heaven, but started at the bank anyway. She became the first female chief dealer in the country, trading foreign exchange, swaps, options and bonds.

She had always loved writing in her spare time and, in her 30s, decided to sit down and write a book which she sent to the publisher, Poolbeg. It offered her a publishing deal with no advance, but only if she wrote a different book. So she wrote Dreaming of a Stranger, using the same characters as the first one, and it was published two years later in 1997. It was a great success, and she wrote two more books for Poolbeg while still holding down her trading job.

"I used to write late in the evenings, and my social life went to pot," she says. "It was something I felt I had to do though."

It was when O'Flanagan was offered a contract with Headline, this time with an advance, that she was able to realise her dream of leaving the day job and writing full time. "I'm really happy with Headline," she says"

O'Flanagan is from Greenhills in west Dublin, and her parents had a grocery shop in the Iveagh Market. Both of her parents worked in the shop, until her dad Joe died when she was 19. He was only 47.

"My dad was diagnosed with cancer when I was 15, and then he went into remission for a while," she says. "After he died, I remember that Mam and my sisters and I all slept in the same bed for a week afterwards."

O'Flanagan's mother had to take over a lot of the running of the shop, and she kept it all together, which O'Flanagan acknowledges must have been very tough.

"She was widowed so young, and she just had to get on with it because she had three daughters to look after," she says. "My sisters Joan and Maureen were still at school when Dad died."

O'Flanagan has been with her partner Colm for more than 20 years, and they have no children. This is by choice, luckily enough, as O'Flanagan had an early menopause when she was only 34, and still working at the bank.

"I was never really a baby person," she chuckles. "Even as a child I used to dismember my dolls."

While no Irish studies exist, American research suggests that approximately eight out of every hundred women go through natural menopause before the age of 40, while a similar number enter menopause for medical reasons, such as surgery or cancer treatment.

This is why O'Flanagan thinks that it must be devastating for women to plan the timing of their career and family, only to discover that they are unable to have children.

While the physical symptoms of menopause proved distressing, O'Flanagan found the emotional impact of entering a phase that characterises middle age harder to accept.

"What I found difficult to deal with was that my body was doing things over which I had no control," she says. "It took me a while to come to terms with it. I was forever checking to see if I had any more grey hairs, or whether my bum had dropped."

O'Flanagan is full of energy and vitality and plays badminton competitively. As an avid lover of all things Spanish, she is currently spending a few weeks at her holiday home in Spain, where she can relax and enjoy her current success.

"Well it's a bit of working holiday too," she protests. "I'll be doing some editing, and getting ready for the next book, The Perfect Man, which comes out in September."

With so many books behind her, you would think that O'Flanagan would be running out of ideas by now, but the fact that her books are increasing in popularity all the time proves that she is completely on top of her game.

Her books are highly enjoyable, funny reads, and they cover many of the emotional issues of life -- broken romances, infertility, infidelity, family feuds, bereavement and broken friendships. Suddenly Single is about a woman who thought she was in control of her busy life, until her long-term boyfriend insists on settling down to a life with children, proper meals and early nights -- without her.

O'Flanagan's mother is her number one fan, so wondering what she thinks of her subject matter could be a problem. "You have to put that out of your head," says O'Flanagan. "I try not to think that Mam is reading anything I've written about sex or whatever, and wondering, 'How does she know about that?' The answer is probably that I Googled it!"

Suddenly Single, by Sheila O'Flanagan, is out now (Headline, €10.50)

- Andrea Smith