Watermelon: The riotously funny and tender novel from the million-copy bestseller (Walsh Family)

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But the craic notwithstanding, these writers have more than whopping sales figures in common: Keyes was an alcoholic; Osman suffers from food addiction. As he says, “You are either controlling it or not controlling it.” There hasn’t been a day Osman hasn’t battled with food since he was nine (no surprise, the time his father left), around the same age that Keyes just knew “something was wrong, something was broken. Something needed painkilling.” At first it was sugar for her too, then books. They both mainlined Enid Blyton for a while. “But then alcohol was the big one,” she says. “The drug of choice. It was the thing that helped me cross over from feeling like a defective human being to being able to pass myself off as normal. But it was a problem immediately because I always wanted more.” The problem was everything between the beginning and the end. Very little happened. I didn't enjoy the endless days Maggie spent hanging out doing n0thing (the zero instead of o is quite intentional). But while her parents are sympathetic, Claire's younger sisters are less so. Helen wants to share the new toy (baby Kate), while Anna is too busy having out-of-her-head experiences.

Have you read it?’ he asked, obviously surprised, the tone of his voice actually implying ‘can you read at all?’ And managed to secure another position with more regular hours. So our romance proceeded on a more traditional timetable. Her bestselling second novel, Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married, is adapted into a TV series, and in 2003 Watermelonis made into a TV film starring Anna Friel (above). Keyes’s books go on to sell more than 35m copies worldwide. The narrator-protagonist was dumped by her husband on the day their daughter was born and she went to her family in Ireland to mope around. At 33%, she's slowly stopping the moping around. I assume she will go on to find herself and then either find herself a new guy (she's very into guys) or decide she is a complete being on her own. Something like that.

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Or they are allowed to fling themselves on any doctor who emerges exhausted from the delivery room, covered in blood up to his elbows, and gasp ‘Any news doctor???’ To which the doctor might reply ‘Oh God no man! – sure she’s only three centimetres dilated.’ And your man will nod knowingly, while understanding nothing other than the fact that there is still a fair bit of pacing to go. Now, I should tell you here that there were no car chases in any of the books we were talking about. They were serious profound books about life and death and similar matters. Michael told me. Aisling told him. George told her.’ (Michael was Judy’s boyfriend. Aisling worked with him. George was Aisling’s husband. George worked with James.) And at the risk of sounding very sour grapes and losing your sympathy, she does look thirty-five) and she has two children and a nice husband (quite apart from my one, that is). And apparently she’s moved out of her flat and he’s moved out of his (or ours, should I say) and they’ve both moved into a new one in a secret location. THE AUTHOR: Marian Keyes (born 10 September 1963) is an Irish novelist and non-fiction writer, best known for her work in women's literature. She is an Irish Book Awards winner. Over 22 million copies of her novels have been sold worldwide and her books have been translated into 32 languages. She became known worldwide for Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, and This Charming Man, with themes including domestic violence and alcoholism.

Will she forgive and forget? Or can she find the courage to take a chance on herself, and start a life of her own? Keyes lives in Dún Laoghaire with her husband Tony Baines (whom she first met on his 30th birthday [5]) after returning to Ireland from London's Hampstead in 1997. [5] Style [ edit ] Suddenly the people at this table stopped being mere irritants and took on some sort of identity for me. Or driving the point about the mother's not cooking to the hyperbolic conclusion of the family being now suspicious of all real food.In 2019 the National Library of Ireland announced that the Keyes digital archive for her novel The Mystery of Mercy Close would be acquired by the Library as a pilot project for collecting " born digital" archives. [12] Jesus, Claire,’ he said, ‘I hate to leave you like this. But if I come home with you and the baby now I won’t ever be able to leave.’ As soon as the other waitresses found out that a suit had asked for my phone number and, worse again, that I had actually given it to him, I was treated like a pariah. It was a long time before I was invited round again to their squat to snort cocaine, I can tell you. He didn’t even attempt a smile and I knew then that I had lost him. He looked like James, he sounded like James, he smelt like James, but it wasn’t James.

Keyes became known for her novels Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married, Rachel's Holiday, Last Chance Saloon, Anybody Out There, and This Charming Man, which, although written in a light and humorous style, cover themes including alcoholism, depression, addiction, cancer, bereavement, and domestic violence. [1] More than 35 million copies of her novels have been sold, and her works have been translated into 33 languages. [2] Her writing has won both the Irish Popular Fiction Book and the Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year, each on one occasion, at the Irish Book Awards. February the fifteenth is a very special day for me. It is the day I gave birth to my first child. It is also the day my husband left me. As he was present at the birth I can only assume the two events weren’t entirely unrelated. And for years afterwards, long after the initial magic had worn off and most of our conversations were about insurance policies and Lenor and dry rot, all I had to do was remember that smile and I felt as if I had just fallen in love all over again.And after a while we moved in together. And after a bit longer we got married. And a couple of years later we decided to have a baby and my ovaries seemed to be game and his spermatozoa registered no complaint on that score and my womb had no objection so I got pregnant. And I gave birth to a baby girl. And I’m sorry to do this to you but I’m going to have to use a lot of clichés here. I can see no other way round it. I’m fine with romance but not when it is the pivotal turning point that makes the character change her ways and get out of her depression. Why couldn’t it be her dysfunctional but loving family or her NEW BORN CHILD that made her wake up and realize that the world doesn’t stop spinning because of one horrible man? Not only is it a great story with funny, loveable characters, it made me laugh out loud * Stylist * Leaving me, indeed! My normal reaction to feeling hurt or betrayed was to go on the warpath, but somehow I knew that it wouldn’t do me any good at all in this situation. I had to stay calm and sane until I could decide what to do.