Love Scene Author: Anna CareyISBN-13: 978-1399742429Publisher: Hachette Books IrelandGuideline Price: €£14.99Relocating to Dublin to work on iconic Irish soap opera Northside is supposed to be a dream come true for scriptwriter Annie McDermott. After more than a decade in Britain, the move will give her a chance to spend time with her newly-retired parents, her sister Laura (protagonist of Anna Carey’s charming novel Our Song) and old friends. But she hasn’t factored in the other new hire in the Northside writers’ room: Art Sullivan, a pompous snob she remembers from her college days. Against the backdrop of a boss who seems set against the show’s anniversary episodes, Annie and Art’s initial dislike of each other turns to a frenemies-with-benefits situation. But can there ever be a happy ever after for long-running characters? Carey’s previous experience creating Fair City scripts lends confidence to her writing-about-writing, and this novel becomes as much a love letter to soaps as it is a love story. A soap gives its fans comfort and escape, Annie tells Art; an impactful storyline doesn’t just inspire water-cooler conversation or raise awareness, it makes people “feel less alone”. (In 2001, Coronation Street character Alma Sedgewick’s terminal cancer diagnosis triggered a surge in requests for cervical smear tests; in 2016, listeners responding to the horrors of a long-running coercive control plotline in The Archers raised more than £150,000 for domestic violence charity Refuge.)Our Song’s added richness came from its nuanced exploration of infertility, so I was hoping that Love Scene too would tackle something deeper. Though it plays out at a lower volume, Carey’s exploration of the impact of being bullied as a teenager is thoughtful and relatable. Annie’s adult anxiety is rooted in being endlessly miserable at secondary school. She can’t remember a single day since she was 12 where she wasn’t anxious, and spends so much time and effort, “worrying about shit that never happens”. As with music in Our Song, Carey excels at describing the joys and horrors of creative endeavour. The rotten truth at the heart of all creative occupations and careers is that talent can never be enough. “It’s the hope that kills you,” Art says. Not in this case. With plenty of steam alongside the soap, Love Scene is a novel full of hope and heart. Henrietta McKervey’s latest novel is The Woman in the Water