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Noelle Harrison

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Photo by Chloe Salvi

Noelle Harrison

Noelle Harrison is an Irish novelist and playwright.

Noelle’s stories are written from the heart, historical with contemporary resonance and relevance, family mysteries and secrets.  “If you like reading love stories set against evocative landscapes from all over the world, you might want to pick up one of my books. My purpose is to tell women’s stories from the past and present and to give voice to those who are rarely heard”


Her first novel, Beatrice was published in August 2004 which was a bestseller in Ireland. This was followed by A Small Part Of Me in 2005, I Remember in 2008, The Adulteress in 2010, The Secret Loves of Julia in 2012, The Gravity of Love in 2018 and The Island Girls in 2020.


Set off the coast of Maine and in the west of Ireland, her latest book The Boatman's Wife a story of lost love, secrets and the fellowship of women was published by Bookouture in January 2021. The Girl Across The Sea was published in November 2021.


Noelle’s books have been translated in over 13 different countries worldwide.


In 2014 she was one of 56 Irish Writers included in the anthology and exhibition “Lines of Vision Irish Writers on Art” at the National Gallery of Ireland, and published by Thames & Hudson.


Noelle has also written five plays – Northern Landscapes, Black Virgin, Runaway Wife, The Good Sister, and Witches’ Gets, which featured in Cymera and Audacious Women Festivals in Edinburgh in 2019 & 2020 to sell out houses.


In April 2022, writing as Anya Bergman, The Witches of Vardø was acquired by Manilla Press, the literary imprint of Bonnier Books UK, in a two-book deal. Set in Vardø on the Varanger Peninsula in Norway during the witch trials of the seventeenth century. The novel based on true events was published on 5th January 2023 and was named a Sunday Times, ‘Historical Fiction Book Of The Month’ with the reviewer calling it ‘a powerful, deeply moving novel’


Also writing as Anya Bergman and inspired by the astonishing true story of Marie-Anne Adelaide Lenormand, The Tarot Reader of Versailles, published on the 19th June 2025 by Manilla Press, is a sweeping, powerful novel where allegiances, betrayals and even fate itself can be forged or broken by the turn of a card.


Noelle currently lives in Ireland is one of the founders of Aurora Writers Retreats, and teaches yoga and journaling as part of the wellness hub The Space To BE. She offers a critiquing service for budding writers through Inkwell Writers.



Praise for The Tarot Reader of Versailles


“A gorgeously written, at times fantastical and deeply immersive novel”

Molly Aitken, author of Bright I Burn


“Lush, lyrical and utterly captivating”

Kim Curran, author of The Morrigan


A complex, epic and engrossing tale, which is part emotive love story with a fantastical edge, part fascinating historical exploration of the French Revolution and part compulsive revenge story, which holds the reader captive throughout. . . . The voices of these two women who find themselves caught up in the heady and dangerous world of the Revolution are beautifully drawn”

Caroline Lea, author of The Glass Woman and Love, Sex & Frankenstein

“Utterly captivating. Anya Bergman's vivid depiction of revolutionary France, and the extraordinary women negotiating the vagaries of power, fortune and fate throughout such unrest and upheaval, held me in thrall from the first page to the last. An engrossing, propulsive novel”

Hannah Kent, author of Burial Rites

“I was totally swept up in this epic story of fate and betrayal, love and intrigue. As the two women fight for their futures and ideals in a world in which everything is turned upside down, every twist left me reeling. Bergman effortlessly conjures the glittering excess of Versailles and the heady ideals of revolutionary Paris. Opulent and gripping, this novel is clear-sighted about the costs of revolution, and the people who get left behind”

Danielle Giles, author of Mere

Thrilling, compelling and beautifully-woven. . . the startling, entwined destinies of Lenormand and Molloy unfold across Paris and the rugged shores of a restless Ireland - a gripping clash between love and honour. Bergman is - as ever - deft and masterful in evoking the timeless wisdom of mythology . .. this vivid novel sings with insight and compassion”

Aoife Fitzpatrick, author of The Red Bird Sings

“A dark and delicious odyssey through the blood-soaked streets of French Revolution Paris. The Tarot Reader of Versailleshad me spellbound from the very first page. I adored the original way this novel expertly wove folklore, Tarot, and Ireland's Great Rebellion with this fascinating period of French history. One to savour”

C.J. Cooke, author of The Lighthouse Witches


“A joy to read . . . Truly a rich tapestry that weaves together history, love, and a sprinkle of magic. The story is so expansive, I felt like I was walking the streets of Paris . . . It effortlessly wove fact into fiction to create a remarkable story”

Catherine Prasifka, author of None of This Is Serious


“An utterly magical book that weaves through the history of the French Revolution, casting it in a new light: feminist, fantastical and flawlessly imagined”

Natasha Solomons, author of Fair Rosaline and Cleopatra

“An enchanting and captivating novel that beautifully weaves together the perspectives of two very different women during the bloody French Revolution. I was enthralled right from the start and gripped by the immersive world Bergman created”

Angie Spoto, author of The Grief Nurse and The Bone Diver

“Reading The Tarot Reader of Versailles is like stepping into the most exquisite treasure trove; pearls of history are gilded with the mystical to create a sumptuous, ingenious tale of love, fate and the fight for equality. I was transported to the lavishness of the French court, to the wild beauty of Ireland, to the magic of myth and tarot - and I absolutely loved every glorious page”

Fiza Saeed McLynn, author of The Midnight Carousel

“A propulsive, seductive story. The French Revolution setting is fascinating and captured in all its gory detail, and the hidden, dark desires of human hearts are skilfully exposed at every turn. I devoured it!”

Kat Gordon, author of The Swell



Praise for Beatrice


“Vivid and powerful, Beatrice is a novel told in gleaming moments, like a string of pearls brought one by one out of the dark. It has the compelling power of a detective story, following a trail of ghosts into the past”

Niall Williams


“It totally grips the reader`s attention quite literally to the very final paragraph... it marks the debut of a deeply mature and skilful voice... “

Dermot Bolger, The Sunday Independent



Praise for “The Gravity Of Love”


“From the arid desert of eighties Arizona to swinging sixties London, Noëlle Harrison connects her beautifully drawn characters and weaves them into a story that entangled, enchanted and entranced this reader.”

Liz Nugent, author of Lying in Wait


“So rich in love, loss, blame, misunderstanding, secrets and betrayals this book has everything.”

Sinéad Moriarty, author of The Good Mother


“From big sky Arizona to an Ireland of “corners and clouds”, Noëlle Harrison leads us on a hypnotic dance across the decades. A vivid, gripping tale of family secrets and lost love.”
Sandra Ireland, author of Beneath the Skin



Rights Sold


Beatrice: Macmillan (UK), Singel Uitgeverijen (De Arbeiderspers) (Holland), Juritzen Forlag (Norway)

A Small Part Of Me: Macmillan (UK), Verlagsgruppe Random House GmbH - Page & Turner(Germany), Arnoldo Mondadori (Italy)

I Remember: Macmillan (UK), Verlag Kiepenhauer & Witsch (Germany), Arnoldo Mondadori (Italy), Cappelen Damm AS (Norway)

The Adulteress :Macmillan (UK), Terricum (Hungary) , Mondadori (ITALY)

The Gravity of Love: Black and White Publishing (World)

The Island Girls: Storyfire Ltd, Bookouture (World)

The Boatman's Wife: Storyfire Ltd, Bookouture (World)

MARIANNE GUNN O'CONNOR
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