She keeps her 135K followers entertained with her witty posts, and is particularly good during Strictly season. MORE: JOIN GH'S ONLINE BOOK CLUB AND WIN FREE BOOKS! She admits there are similarities to the Keyes, especially Mammy Walsh to her own mother. Introduced in Watermelon, Marian's tales of the five Irish sisters are probably our favourites of her books. Which is so much more interesting than happy ever after. She pushes against predictability, mixing humour with serious social issues. This Charming Man tackles alcoholism, Anbody Out There? bereavement. Her covers may be pretty, covered in stars and, yes, they're often comedies but there's always a dark twist. By revealing so much of herself, she helps others in the same situation. She doesn't try to sugar-coat things or show herself in the best light. She's written openly about her alcoholism and the depression she suffers. It's not just funny though, she's an incredibly insightful writer who notices the little details that no-one else does. Her latest is typical Marian: Making It Up As I Go Along is a collection of essays on everything from turning 50 to breaking up with your hairdresser, and every other sentence has you in stitches.

Since then she's written 12 novels and four non-fiction books, and has sold over 33 million copies worldwide.

This story of a woman dumped by her husband on the day she has their baby was a huge success and she was able to give up work to write full time. Watermelon was published in Ireland in 1995 and a year later in the UK. Those chapters were the beginning of her first book, Watermelon, and she was offered a three-book contract on the strength of it. When the publisher wrote back and said, send the novel, she ended up writing four chapters in a week. So that they'd take her seriously, she said that she'd written part of a novel - she hadn't.

Marian had started writing short stories a few years before 'out of the blue', but it was after a stint in rehab that she fully committed to writing and decided to send them off to a publisher. Thankfully the suicide attempt didn't work and within a year her first novel was published. She took whatever pills she could find and lay down, waiting for oblivion. One January morning 22 years ago, Marian Keyes woke up still drunk from the night before and decided she'd had enough.

Watermelon marian keyes review