McBride wrote A Girl Is a Half-formed Thing in six months, but it took nine years to get it published. Galley Beggar Press of Norwich finally picked it up in 2013. The novel is written as a stream-of-consciousness and recounts the story of a young woman's complex relationship with her family. McBride's second novel The Lesser Bohemians was published on 1 September 2016. Set in Camden Town in the 1990s, it tells the story of the turbulent relationship between an 18-year-old drama student and a 38-year-old actor. McBride discussed the book on Woman's Hour on 8 September and it was reviewed on BBC Radio 4's programme Saturday Review on 17 September. She has contributed forewords to the Selected Poems of Anna Akhmatova, Sundog: the lyrics of Scott Walker and Edna O'Brien's The Country Girls Trilogy. Her short stories have appeared in The Guardian, Prospect magazine, The Long Gaze Back, Dubliners 100, Winter Papers and on BBC Radio 4.
Style
McBride has been asked if she finds it easy to objectify men in her writing. This followed publication of Strange Hotel, which features her accounts of having casual sex with a man before disposing of him to have sex with another man, and to continue in like manner with as many men as can be found. McBride confirmed at an event promoting the book that she did find it easy to objectify men in her writing. She justified the practice of objectifying men in her writing as being, she claimed, "about striking a blow against the stereotype of women" as being unlike men. A school group soon left the event, but not – as was previously asserted – as a result of her comments, but rather due to their need to catch the last train home.
McBride was born in Liverpool in 1976 to Irish parents, both of whom were nurses. The family moved back to Ireland when she was three. She spent her childhood in Tubbercurry, Sligo, and Mayo. She recalled writing from the age of seven or eight. At the age of 17, McBride moved to London to begin her studies at The Drama Centre, but realised after graduating that she had no interest in becoming an actress. McBride has a love for Russian literature and spent four months in Saint Petersburg in 2000. On her return, she worked as an office temp and travelled. She completed her first novel during this time. In 2006, she returned to Cork for a time and began work on her second novel. McBride moved to London in 2017 with her husband and daughter after spending several years living in Norwich.
