Katriona survives because she met a few good people along life’s path that turn out to be pivotal. These people saw her love for learning and inspired her but it was down to Katriona 100% to walk a different path to the one being modelled by her parents and maintained by the system.

We love a rags-to-riches story, and we love to see someone triumph through sheer determination. But the story is rarely that simple. My story isn't, anyway.' Poor is the moving, inspirational and brave story of a seven year old girl who needed love and care and found it with her teachers. Of a teenager whose English teacher believed she was fantastic. Of a young mother who had a caring nurse who encouraged and supported her. Of a woman who becomes a doctor of psychology and works to increase diversity in education.Poor is not only Katriona's story, but is also her impassioned argument for the importance of looking out for our kids' futures. Of giving them hope, practical support and meaningful opportunities. Full of insight into a life lived right up against the boundaries placed on it by poverty . . . so important . . . we'd highly recommend Fi Glover, Off Air with Jane and Fi, Times Radio

When she told me she was in Trinity I thought, if she’s going there, I’m going there”, the author says. That day O’Sullivan marched up to the Trinity Access Programme and asked to be accepted into the college. This was the beginning of her new life in academia. Katriona's book is a must-read for anyone interested in education or social work, for anyone who works with children, for everyone. Ignore the housework, any and all responsibilities and read 'Poor'. There were glimpses of other lives. At three, she remembers her friend next door being given a hug by her mum, and wondering why her own mother didn’t hug her like that. For a short time, she and her siblings were taken into care, where she “got food, and washed”. She always believed she deserved more, but over the years, she says, “hope and belief get eroded”. The effort of survival was exhausting. “As a kid, I was hopeful, vivacious. All kids are – some are quiet, some are loud, but we all have potential. And then as a teenager, with all the shit constantly, in the end, you just lean into it.” There were people, she says, “trying to keep me hopeful, but it’s very hard to battle against a lifetime of poverty and belief within a family. Eventually, it’s like your light goes out.” Amazing read by an amazing woman. Some parts were absolutely gut-wrenching; really brought a tear to my eye. The fortitude she had to get through what she did amazed me, and to get to where she is today even more so. However, as Katriona herself points out, she didn't make it out alone, there were numerous people along the way who helped her up, as well as programmes and social investment schemes that paved the way. Now all those schemes are gone at a time when we need them more than ever. There must be so many like her out there, struggling with abuse, addiction, terrible parents, with no-one to see them as they really are.Coming from poverty dreams aren't sky high, most of the time they barely go past the ceiling of a council house. And being 'better' meant having a job or not selling drugs I cried my way through this book. It's, to use a cliche, and emotional roller-coaster. To see that child who existed beneath the contempt of those 'others' in society. The individual, she says, “is small in the decisions of their life, and we don’t like that because it suggests we’re powerless. But choice is a myth that’s perpetuated by the middle classes – only a few people really can choose.” Moving, funny, brave and original - just like the author ... absolutely incredible' - Roísín Ingle, Irish Times Women's Podcast We aren’t just one thing, good or bad. This book has no absolutes. Instead, there is an array of moments when decisions were made out of necessity or survival, and beneath that, survival was a deep love and connection between O’Sullivan and her parents. O’Sullivan pushes us past the addiction and the difficult moments and forces us to confront the humanity of the people at the core of this story. The book delivers a powerful message to society about how we treat those who struggle with chronic addiction. She wants the reader to see them, and we do.

This is the extraordinary story - moving, funny, brave, and sometimes startling - of how Katriona turned her life around. How the seeds of self-belief planted by teachers in childhood stayed with 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.Katriona was born in Coventry to Irish parents. She grew up in dire poverty, became a mother at fifteen and ended up homeless. Moving to her father's native Dublin, Katriona was hopeful that a change of place would bring positive changes to her life. As she says herself, it turned out that "nothing would change in Dublin......I had come to Dublin and to change my life and simply replicated it".

Under any circumstances, Katriona is someone to look up to and admire for her intellectual prowess, academic achievements and her work in ensuring equal access to education for young Irish girls, but when you read about the absolute dire poverty in which she grew up, she is all the more remarkable. O’Sullivan, grew up one of five children in England with Irish parents, both heroin addicts, in a home environment riven with dysfunction, abuse and poverty.Being able to hear Katriona tell her story in her audiobook, in her own voice brought me to tears several times.