Sheila began her career in the world of banking, and became the first female chief dealer in the country. Originally from Walkinstown, Sheila now lives on the northside of Dublin with her husband Colm. Her 12th book, Connections, a collection of short stories, entered the Irish fiction charts three weeks ago at number one.

Patricia started off her career as a librarian. She is from the northside of Dublin, and has a twin brother, Donald, and three other brothers and one sister, to whom she is very close. Patricia is editor of the Open Door Literacy Books, a series of novellas written by well-known Irish writers, aimed at adult literacy learners.

The fifth series of books is out this week, as is Patricia's own 12th novel, Divided Loyalties.

Sheila on Patricia I first met Patricia in 1998 at a dinner party given by Marian Keyes, as she is a good friend of the two of us. I was a bit in awe of her at first, because she had so many books published and I was only starting out really.

I realised, during the conversation, that we had the same outlook on a lot of things, and we had very similar upbringings and backgrounds. We began to meet for coffee and, at the time, I was having difficulties with my former publishers, and she had been in a similar situation, and was very supportive and helpful about it. It was great to have someone who really understood the situation.

Being friends with Patricia has taught me a lot because she is a much more relaxed person than I am in many ways, and she made me realise that it was okay to be relaxed sometimes. At first I used to call Patricia about anything to do with books, but now I know that I can call her about anything that's bothering me, and she will always have good advice and be very sympathetic. Patricia is much more affectionate than me, and she's a really comforting type of person. She has a much more outgoing personality than I have, and is very genuine.

We went to Spain for a week together, because Patricia was going over to buy a holiday property to help with the whole buying process, as I already had a property there. We had a really lovely time there, and Patricia was really easy to get along with.

We both really enjoy exploring restaurants and bars, and sitting outside in the sun with a glass of wine and a book. It's not often that you meet people who have the same passion as you do about reading, and we'll talk about books that we've read, and want to read.

Patricia is very generous with her time and with her talents, and her Open Door Adult Literacy series would be an example of that. We both have different writing styles, although we deal with the same types of subjects. I think she's really good at getting into the heart of her characters.

Patricia is one of my best friends and she's someone you can just pick up the phone to for a fun chat. We aren't competitive with each other . . . women writers in Ireland are generally very supportive of one another because we know how hard it is, and we all have the common bond of wanting people to read.

Patricia on Sheila When I first met Sheila, we just clicked straight away. I really liked her immediately, and I admired her integrity. The two of us are very straight people, and I think that's why we get on so well.

Sheila very generously agreed to help me out with the process of buying a Spanish home, which was a very bonding experience.

She invited me to her own holiday home after that, but she tried to murder me there!

We landed during a terrible storm, and her villa was quite newly built, so the roads weren't finished. When we got there in our rented car, Sheila and her cousin Brenda got out one side of the car, and she told me to get out of the other side and I landed in quicksand. I was wearing pristine white runners and white trousers, and I landed up to my knees in orange quicksand, and all my friend Sheila could do was fall around the place laughing. I struggled out eventually, with not much help from Sheila and Brenda, I might add! The wheels of the car were stuck in the quicksand as well, and I would have been panicking if I was driving, but Sheila was so calm about it all.

That's one of the things I admire about her . . . nothing gets her in a flap. We react completely differently to things, because I tend to fly off the handle, while she's always very measured. Sheila would sometimes approach things from a more business-like perspective, whereas I'd approach them from a more spiritual perspective, and we've opened each other's eyes to other ways. I will always light a candle for Sheila if she's having a difficulty, and now she'd ask me to do it, whereas she probably would have found all of that a bit odd at the beginning.

Going for coffee with Sheila can be a very dangerous experience. The last time I went out with her, I ended up coming home with a brand new state-of-the-art computer and a new printer. She's a wiz with technology and I'm not, and she's really good for sharing her knowledge, no matter how many times I call her about something I can't work out.

Sheila is a great friend, and she has a wicked sense of humour. She comes out with things that will really make your eyes open and make you burst out laughing.

We're both very un-pc sometimes, in the privacy of our coffee meetings. The publishing world has gone quite hard and ruthless, so it's just really nice to have a friend who knows exactly what it's like, and with whom you don't have to put on the facade of the best-selling author all the time.

I really couldn't imagine ever not being friends with Sheila, and not being able to pick up the phone to her to chat.