Cathy Kelly, Belfast born and Dublin reared, swearing like a trooper with a hangover, yesterday became the Parker romantic novelist of the year.
Ms Kelly has achieved the romantic dream of every red blooded journalist.
"I was always saying I was going to write a book, and then I finally did, and then it went to number one on the bestseller list so I thought 'Jaysus, I'd better write another'," she said.
Her fifth novel, Someone Like You, yesterday took the £5,000 prize, beating a shortlist of six, which included four previous winners and the grande dame of the trade, Rosamunde Pilcher.
Ms Pilcher, with 60 years writing, 30 novels and a shelf of disowned Mills and Boon titles behind her, said Someone Like You was one of a handful among the hundreds of novels she is sent every year which she could bear to read beyond the first three pages.
Alan Titchmarsh, celebrity gardener reborn as a romantic novelist, presented the prizes at the Savoy hotel in London.
When Ms Pilcher started writing at 18, not only was sex unmentionable for her heroines, so were divorce, alcohol and even going to the races. "Now one tries to hold the line between writing about more challenging subjects in a more modern way, and driving away a whole generation of older readers," she said.
Ms Kelly's heroines are usually tottering under the influence of excesses of one kind or another - although her book ends with a kiss in a car. She knows that "romantic novel" is still a term of abuse in literary circles.
But Norma Curtis, novelist and chairwoman of the Romantic Novelists' Association, said: "You only have to sell about 2,000 books to get on the Booker shortlist. Our books start with a print run of 30,000."
Sales of romantic novels are only beaten by crime fiction, and a survey in 1996 found that 182m copies had been sold world wide that year. "Bridget Jones has really changed the market, with all the 20 and 30-year-olds coming in for the first time as readers and writers," Ms Curtis said.
"The younger writers' books are much more earthy - bollocks is a very popular word now - and the older readers won't go near them, although the younger readers will read the older books."
Cathy Kelly's latest manuscript is due in on Monday, for publication in October: "I knew I wasn't going to win, so I didn't bring my laptop, I didn't expect to be hanging around for long," she said guiltily. HarperCollins, her publishers, will probably forgive her.
Three years ago Ms Kelly was a hack in a Dublin newsroom. She now lives in a pretty and very expensive Wicklow village, contributes a weekly column to her paper, has a new three-book contract, and has sold almost 500,000 copies between the first four. Who says there are no happy endings?
Winning words
An extract from Cathy Kelly's prize-winning novel Someone Like You
Moving quietly so she wouldn't wake him, Hannah padded naked and barefoot into the kitchen, and swallowed two headache tablets with a glass of water. After another glass to slake her hangover thirst, she crept into the bathroom. Her hair was a wild bush around her head. Her make-up was in patchy scales under her eyes. Her mouth was bruised from a combination of fierce kissing and from Felix's late-night stubble. All in all, the sort of face to normally make Hannah groan. Only, today, something shone out from behind the tiredness and the panda eyes: something delirious and fulfilled. Her eyes sparkled and her mouth refused to stop smiling. She was happy, in love! She beamed at her reflection.
After brushing her teeth until her gums hurt in case she had bad breath, Hannah slid back under the duvet and wriggled over until she was half lying on top of him. He didn't appear to wake up, yet one hand moved gently to cup her breast, idly caressing the nipple expertly until Hannah sighed loudly. Felix opened one eye. 'Are you a morning sex person?'
