It should be read by everyone - because there's not one person on this planet who hasn't hit rock bottom at one point in their lives.

Poor: Grit, courage, and the life-changing value of self-belief

The title is inspired by her childhood and family background but also highlights the poverty of a system which she believes fails society’s most vulnerable.I always remember how honest she was with us all about her experience of the Trinity Access Program etc. It was a pivotal moment in helping her understand that she was worthy of loving care and attention; that she was somebody. A kindly teacher, Mrs Arkinson, took an interest in Katriona from a very young age and recognised the fact that Katriona came from a home where she was utterly neglected. Despite her professional success, and happiness in her marriage and as a loving mother, Katriona lives with the indelible legacy of her early years.

Raised by addicts, abused, neglected, broke: how Katriona O

She feels now, nearly four decades on, closer to that girl, before the weight of neglect, predatory men, fear and low expectations crushed her. How she found mentors whose encouragement revitalised those seeds in adulthood, leading her to become an award-winning academic whose work challenges barriers to education. Throughout her life she encountered people who gave her hope by showing her she was worth more, that she deserved more and therefore raising her self-belief.I don’t know why but I’ve always felt like this so making friends, trusting people, didn’t happen easily. With unflinching honesty and humour, Katriona tells us how she managed to break free from the cycle of poverty that was her legacy. Coming from poverty dreams aren't sky high, most of the time they barely go past the ceiling of a council house.

Poor: Grit, courage, and the life-changing value of self

When she was 15, she got pregnant; the moment she found out, “just knowing that it’s over – any bit of hope, any dreams”. There is a moment in the book where a former teacher tracks O’Sullivan down to a flat she was living in after a period of homelessness and becoming a teenage mother; when I say I cried, I mean I bawled my eyes out. This cost is all the greater for someone who is as open and forthcoming as O’Sullivan, someone who shows all parts of herself, both light and shade. Through unwavering honesty, O’Sullivan depicts her turbulent, traumatic childhood and teenage years and her constant battle in developing self-worth while living in the most difficult of circumstances.It is apparent that O’Sullivan has weighed the personal cost of telling her story and set it off against the cost to the world of not telling her story. She stood at the top of the lecture hall in Trinity College Dublin in a beige cardigan down to her knees, blue denim jeans and a pair of runners. We were located in Goldsmith Hall at the back of campus – you didn’t even have to go through the main gates to get there. Sometimes, teachers would treat me that way as well, or expect me to perform in a way that was just beyond me because of what was going on at home.