[2] Dillon's family was involved in Irish revolutionary politics; her uncle Joseph Mary Plunkett was a signatory of the 1916 Proclamation and was executed after the Easter Rising.

[3] Dillon's first books were in Irish including An Choill Bheo, published in 1948, Oscar agus an Cóiste sé nEasóg in 1952 and Ceol na coille in 1955.

She continued to visit Italy over the next several years, setting some of her stories there including Living in Imperial Rome (1974) and The Five Hundred (1972), though these were not as popular as her Irish books.

[citation needed] Dillon's adult fiction career began in 1953 with the publication of the detective novel Death at Crane's Court.

[2] Eilís Dillon died in Dublin in 1994 and is buried beside her second husband in Clara, County Offaly; a prize in her memory is given annually as part of the CBI Book of the Year Awards.