 Irene Frain was born into a very close but destitute family.Her first book was a history of the golden age of maritime Brittany titled "Quand les Bretons peuplaient les mers" (When the Bretons inhabited the seas) published in 1979.She studied at the lycée Dupuy-de-Lôme de Lorient, where she obtained a degree in Classics in 1972.