I had just launched into an orgy of switching stuff off when someone said, ‘Going home, Maggie?’ It was my boss, Frances, and her already? might have been silent but I still heard it. In the last 15 years, Marian has spent an astonishing 153 weeks in the Sunday Times top 10, with 26 of those as No. 1. It literally made me cold. All the little hairs on my skin lifted and a chill settled somewhere between my ribs. Terrified, I tried to cheer myself up by having a little fret about the amount of work I’d have to do the following day, but no dice. So then I reminded myself that my parents were getting older and that I’d be the one who’d end up having to take care of them, and tried to scare myself with that instead.

Drug abuse and alcoholism: Rachel being addicted to recreational drugs, to the point of suicide which find her in the emergency room. Marian’s first review – for Watermelon – was in Irish Tatler. These were in the long ago, pre-internet days. Her mother called her at work in London to say she’d ‘heard’ that Irish Tatler had run a review, but she couldn’t get her hands on a copy. So Marian rang Irish Tatler on the office pay phone, explained who she was to a receptionist and asked if she wouldn’t mind reading out the review. The receptionist began, got two sentences in, then Marian ran out of change and the call was disconnected. (Subsequently she got to read the review. It was very nice.)Who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t? Did something as benign as a box of chocolates alter the entire course of my life? Marian has a combined social media following of 484,014. She is universally adored by her fans for her trademark wit and humour, alongside her unmissable Love Island commentary. Unlike the rest of her family, Maggie has always done everything right. At thirty-three she has a proper job, is happily married to Garv and never puts a foot wrong.

Maggie, the good girl of the family has always been quiet with a non-complicated lifestyle. She discovers her husband is having an affair and her boss wants to fire her, she therefore flees to Hollywood to stay with her best friend. But, it is not how she always thought it would be. In LA she hangs out with superstars and directors for once in her life she decides to have a carefree attitude.

Likewise, my name is Margaret but he calls me Maggie, except when I borrow his car and scrape the side against the pillar in the multi-storey car park (something that occurs more regularly than you might think). Trinity College Library, in Marian’s hometown of Dublin, contains around 7 million volumes. Having sold 7.3 million copies in the UK alone, the number of Marian Keyes books sold could fill the library, and then some. Garv was already home and we greeted each other a little warily. We hadn’t expected that this evening would be just the two of us; we’d been kind of depending on Liam and Elaine to dilute the funny atmosphere between us. The irony is, I was praying that Elaine and Liam would cancel. The chances were good -the last three times we were supposed to meet up, it hadn’t happened. The first time, Garv and I had bowed out because we were getting our new kitchen table delivered. (No, of course it didn’t come.) The next time, Elaine -who’s some bigwig in pensions -had to drive to Sligo to make a load of people redundant. (‘The new Jag arrived just in time!’) Then the last time I’d managed to come up with some spurious excuse which Garv had agreed with all too readily. This time it was their call.

But even Garv agreed that Elaine was terrifying. She-spokerealfast. Firingquestionsfromamachinemouth. How’swork? Whenareyougettinglisted? Her dynamic glamour reduced me to stammering inadequacy, and by the time I’d cobbled together an answer, she’d have lost interest and moved on. Keyes' stories usually revolve around a strong female character who overcomes numerous obstacles to achieve lasting happiness. Regarding her decision to use an optimistic tone and hopeful ending, Keyes has said: "I'm very bleak, really melancholic. But I've always used humour as a survival mechanism. I write for me and I need to feel hopeful about the human condition. So no way I'm going to write a downbeat ending. And it isn't entirely ludicrous to suggest that sometimes things might work out for the best." [11]Each novel in the series has its story; like in Watermelon whatever happens to Clare the readers will have to relate to her emotionally. 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 ] That’s right.’ Lest there be any confusion. ‘Going home.’ Polite but firm. Trying to keep my prone-to-quaver-under­ pressure voice free of tell-tale traces of fear. McGreevy, Ronan (16 October 2019). "Marian Keyes becomes first Irish writer to donate digital archive". The Irish Times . Retrieved 16 September 2021.