I seem to be the exception here. In September 1998, I walked in to the classroom for my first GCSE English lesson to the sight of a poster for Rachel’s Holiday on the wall. Along with two friends, I was so drawn to the bright pink cover that we bought a copy between us and devoured it. We went on to buy Watermelon and Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, and followed this up by writing a letter to Marian Keyes who very kindly replied in purple pen.
Come November 1999, at the grand age of 15 we tottered along to her book tour for Last Chance Saloon. I can still remember the grey Kookaï suit and silver Faith court shoes I wore- we felt so grown up! Marian was a delight in person, told everyone else at the reading how we’d written to her and afterwards she sent another letter and arranged for her publisher to send us some posters.
26 years later my framed Last Chance Saloon poster still hangs on the wall of my office. It reminds me of my two teenage friends who now live abroad, and despite losing touch it encapsulates the joy of the friendship that burned bright and of the shared nights out and formative experiences.
As for Marian Keyes, it has delighted me how much success she has gone on to have. Whenever I hear her interviewed, she seems to remain the kind and genuine person who humoured three teenage girls when she was starting out despite how she has publicly talked about her struggles with depression. I always look forward to her new releases and as I’ve aged, I only have more and more admiration and appreciation for how an author labelled ‘chick lit’ has shown her writing is so much more than that misogynistic label.
If you haven’t read a Marian Keyes, perhaps start Rachel’s Holiday and then go back and do them in order. I am very jealous that you have a whole 16 books to devour.
This is the email I needed in my inbox this morning. It’s increasingly difficult to read anything with a grim ending given everything that is happening.
And to have an unread Maggie O’Farrell in it - hurrah!
Through this excerpt brought tears to my eyes. “It all happened and is still happening and will happen forever”.
‘This must be the place’ takes a similar approach in telling the same story from a few angles. Which can really be so devastating when you understand how characters fail to reach out to each other and communicate what they need.
But really consuming writing. Really enjoy her books and looking forward to this one.
Thank you so much Pandora for pouring into our cups so frequently and with such consistent quality. I am particularly excited to see what non-current releases you discuss next as I love the added nuance of reading something not ‘of the moment’ to see how far we have come or how different attitudes once were.
That’s a lovely note, thank you, and yes I will endeavour to keep the mix broader! (I’m not sure why I never thought of it earlier, if I’m honest. Short sighted of me given how much I love second hand books.)
Thank you Pandora!! I’m currently reading So Good To See You and really enjoying the effortlessness of the reading experience, especially as I’m about to give birth and am very tired 😅 Also, thanks for including older books: I love your recommendations and love buying the books you write about - and reading older books is much kinder to my purse 😉
Thanks Pandora ❤️ and thanks again for recommending So Good To See You - I’m really enjoying it ☺️ I hope I’ll get to read the other books you recommended as well!
Pandora!!! It's Marian here!!! Oh my GODDDDDDDD, I'm SO delighted. Thank you with all of my heart for your kindness and generosity here. I'm THRILLED you enjoyed My Favourite Mistake. Your good opinion carries so much weight and I feel very validated by it. It's impossible to overstate what a lift you've given me. Have a beautiful holiday, I'd be very surprised if you don't think Hamnet is a masterpiece. Thank yooooooooooo 💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞
I LOVE everything Maggie O’Farrell writes .. but this review makes me want to re-read Instructions for a Heatwave from a now different place in my own life. I first read it when my three children were all under 10… now that they are late teens & early 20s (the university years !) I need to re read it and pay more attention to the mother’s perspective, which I feel will resonate more now than it did then…. Please read Hamnet Pandora … it’s up there with the best books I’ve ever read, I’d love your take on it too. Before the film comes out. 😊
I read my first Marian Keyes (Watermelon) at the ripe old age of 11, taken from my mom’s bookcase (she hadn’t read it yet and had no idea of its content). I’ve read all her books (including the essay collections and her cookbook) and still own most of them - I LOVE HER SO MUCH.
I haven’t read any Maggie O’Farrell but taking this as my sign to start.
Thank you so much. These are just the recommendations I needed. You have to read Maggie OF autobiographical I am, I am, I am. She’s had a very extraordinary life but sounds so down to earth on desert island discs! You might want to wait until your little one is fully recovered and you have recovered before reading Hamnet. I read it when my son was ill and nearly didn’t make it to the end. Have a lovely summer 💛
Marian Keyes IS a treasure. I’m late to her books as well and can’t get enough and I didn’t know of this new Walsh book until you Pandora included a photo and link to it a few weeks ago. So thanks for doing for me what your mom’s bedside did for you. There’s a great You’re Booked podcast ep with her and even her voice is joyful & giddy.
I adore Maggie O’Farrell but haven’t read Instructions for a Heatwave yet ( it’s been on my bookshelf for years). I’d really recommend ‘The hand that first held mine’- it’s such a visceral account of early motherhood. My mum bought it for me just after I had my first baby and I adored it.
I love this! Thank you… I’m excited for the Maggie O’Farrell recommendation - I wolfed down The Marriage Portrait, but I must confess that I had to abandon Hamnet. She is such a brilliant writer but as a mom, I couldn’t bear her description of the child’s death and the preparation of the body. It destroyed me. Just wanted to give you fair warning. I know so many people who loved it but the writing was so powerful that I couldn’t endure the pit in my stomach…
I think I remember an interview where O’Farrell said she couldn’t write Hamnet until her youngest child was beyond the age of that child (forgive my clumsy paraphrasing) - I’ve been wary of reading it too.
I seem to be the exception here. In September 1998, I walked in to the classroom for my first GCSE English lesson to the sight of a poster for Rachel’s Holiday on the wall. Along with two friends, I was so drawn to the bright pink cover that we bought a copy between us and devoured it. We went on to buy Watermelon and Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, and followed this up by writing a letter to Marian Keyes who very kindly replied in purple pen.
Come November 1999, at the grand age of 15 we tottered along to her book tour for Last Chance Saloon. I can still remember the grey Kookaï suit and silver Faith court shoes I wore- we felt so grown up! Marian was a delight in person, told everyone else at the reading how we’d written to her and afterwards she sent another letter and arranged for her publisher to send us some posters.
26 years later my framed Last Chance Saloon poster still hangs on the wall of my office. It reminds me of my two teenage friends who now live abroad, and despite losing touch it encapsulates the joy of the friendship that burned bright and of the shared nights out and formative experiences.
As for Marian Keyes, it has delighted me how much success she has gone on to have. Whenever I hear her interviewed, she seems to remain the kind and genuine person who humoured three teenage girls when she was starting out despite how she has publicly talked about her struggles with depression. I always look forward to her new releases and as I’ve aged, I only have more and more admiration and appreciation for how an author labelled ‘chick lit’ has shown her writing is so much more than that misogynistic label.
If you haven’t read a Marian Keyes, perhaps start Rachel’s Holiday and then go back and do them in order. I am very jealous that you have a whole 16 books to devour.
This is the email I needed in my inbox this morning. It’s increasingly difficult to read anything with a grim ending given everything that is happening.
And to have an unread Maggie O’Farrell in it - hurrah!
Through this excerpt brought tears to my eyes. “It all happened and is still happening and will happen forever”.
‘This must be the place’ takes a similar approach in telling the same story from a few angles. Which can really be so devastating when you understand how characters fail to reach out to each other and communicate what they need.
But really consuming writing. Really enjoy her books and looking forward to this one.
I’m usually not one for happy endings but I’m happy for that whole list in world’s *hand gestures* current situation.
Thank you so much Pandora for pouring into our cups so frequently and with such consistent quality. I am particularly excited to see what non-current releases you discuss next as I love the added nuance of reading something not ‘of the moment’ to see how far we have come or how different attitudes once were.
That’s a lovely note, thank you, and yes I will endeavour to keep the mix broader! (I’m not sure why I never thought of it earlier, if I’m honest. Short sighted of me given how much I love second hand books.)
Thank you Pandora!! I’m currently reading So Good To See You and really enjoying the effortlessness of the reading experience, especially as I’m about to give birth and am very tired 😅 Also, thanks for including older books: I love your recommendations and love buying the books you write about - and reading older books is much kinder to my purse 😉
That’s great to know and I shall absolutely enforce my new mix going forward!
Thanks Pandora ❤️ and thanks again for recommending So Good To See You - I’m really enjoying it ☺️ I hope I’ll get to read the other books you recommended as well!
Pandora!!! It's Marian here!!! Oh my GODDDDDDDD, I'm SO delighted. Thank you with all of my heart for your kindness and generosity here. I'm THRILLED you enjoyed My Favourite Mistake. Your good opinion carries so much weight and I feel very validated by it. It's impossible to overstate what a lift you've given me. Have a beautiful holiday, I'd be very surprised if you don't think Hamnet is a masterpiece. Thank yooooooooooo 💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞💞
Not Marian here!!! My pleasure. As it is for me, that you read my letter. Will revert re: Hamnet ✨
I LOVE everything Maggie O’Farrell writes .. but this review makes me want to re-read Instructions for a Heatwave from a now different place in my own life. I first read it when my three children were all under 10… now that they are late teens & early 20s (the university years !) I need to re read it and pay more attention to the mother’s perspective, which I feel will resonate more now than it did then…. Please read Hamnet Pandora … it’s up there with the best books I’ve ever read, I’d love your take on it too. Before the film comes out. 😊
ON IT
I read my first Marian Keyes (Watermelon) at the ripe old age of 11, taken from my mom’s bookcase (she hadn’t read it yet and had no idea of its content). I’ve read all her books (including the essay collections and her cookbook) and still own most of them - I LOVE HER SO MUCH.
I haven’t read any Maggie O’Farrell but taking this as my sign to start.
Brilliant. I read my first Jilly Cooper at the same age!
Thank you so much. These are just the recommendations I needed. You have to read Maggie OF autobiographical I am, I am, I am. She’s had a very extraordinary life but sounds so down to earth on desert island discs! You might want to wait until your little one is fully recovered and you have recovered before reading Hamnet. I read it when my son was ill and nearly didn’t make it to the end. Have a lovely summer 💛
Marian Keyes IS a treasure. I’m late to her books as well and can’t get enough and I didn’t know of this new Walsh book until you Pandora included a photo and link to it a few weeks ago. So thanks for doing for me what your mom’s bedside did for you. There’s a great You’re Booked podcast ep with her and even her voice is joyful & giddy.
I adore Maggie O’Farrell but haven’t read Instructions for a Heatwave yet ( it’s been on my bookshelf for years). I’d really recommend ‘The hand that first held mine’- it’s such a visceral account of early motherhood. My mum bought it for me just after I had my first baby and I adored it.
I love this! Thank you… I’m excited for the Maggie O’Farrell recommendation - I wolfed down The Marriage Portrait, but I must confess that I had to abandon Hamnet. She is such a brilliant writer but as a mom, I couldn’t bear her description of the child’s death and the preparation of the body. It destroyed me. Just wanted to give you fair warning. I know so many people who loved it but the writing was so powerful that I couldn’t endure the pit in my stomach…
I think I remember an interview where O’Farrell said she couldn’t write Hamnet until her youngest child was beyond the age of that child (forgive my clumsy paraphrasing) - I’ve been wary of reading it too.
I have to read your review again. I’ve read Maggie O’Farrell’s other novels and enjoyed them.
I certainly have fatigue of only new book recommendations, this is refreshing. :)
Just started reading Instructions for a Heatwave and it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite books - thank you so much for the recommendation 💚💚💚
When I read ‘The Marriage Portrait’ I honestly forgot it was historical fiction. It’s brilliant.