| Catherine Crichton was born and grew up in Dublin. She lived in London throughout her twenties, where she bought a small flat above a row of shops; this led her to fall in love with glass. There was an art school downstairs, and she joined the stained glass class. That’s where she first heard of her compatriot, the renowned stained glass artist Harry Clarke. Her teacher regarded him as a genius and told her the sad story of his early death. Having completed her pièce de résistance (a window depicting a woman diving into the ocean) she gave up the craft and returned to Dublin. In 2001 she set up a dental practice with her husband in Stoneybatter and managed it for over 20 years.
In 2015, as her Mother’s Day treat, Catherine persuaded her two slightly reluctant teenagers to accompany her to the Hugh Lane Gallery to see its newest acquisition. This was Harry Clarke’s Mr Gilhooley panel, originally made as part of his ill-fated final masterpiece, the Geneva Window. Depicting a dancer wearing only a transparent pink veil, the piece had been deemed too salacious for the Ireland of 1930. Catherine was mesmerised by its beauty, luminous colours and intricate detail. A seed had been sown. Having sold the dental business in 2022, she took creative writing classes, initially with a view to writing short stories or essays. During a week-long writing challenge run by the writing.ie website, she got the idea to write a historical novel telling the story of Harry Clarke and his Geneva Window. The Window was a runner-up in the Irish Writers Centre Novel Fair (a debut novel competition) in 2025 and was also placed in the top 100 in the Bath Novel Award. At weekends, Catherine volunteers at the National Gallery of Ireland, working on the information desks and creative space. When visitors ask what’s her favourite part of the collection, she directs them to the works by Harry Clarke in the stained glass room.
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