Marian Keyes

Marian Keyes (born 10 September 1963) is an Irish author and radio presenter who is best known for her popular fiction.

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, that cover themes including alcoholism, depression, addiction, cancer, bereavement, and domestic violence through a humorous lens. More than 35 million copies of her novels have been sold, and her works have been translated into 33 languages.

Early life and education

Marian Keyes was born in Ireland, one of five siblings, and raised in Cork. There was a history of alcoholism in her family, and her struggles with anxiety, depression, and alcoholism reportedly began at an early age.

She graduated from University College Dublin with a law degree, and after completing her studies, she took an administrative job before moving to London in 1986. During this period, she became an alcoholic and was affected by clinical depression, culminating in a suicide attempt and subsequent rehabilitation in 1995 at the Rutland Centre in Dublin.

Career

Keyes began writing short stories while suffering from alcoholism. After her treatment at the Rutland Centre, she returned to her job in London and submitted her short stories to Poolbeg Press. The publisher encouraged her to submit a full-length novel, and Keyes began work on her first book, Watermelon. The novel was published the same year. Since 1995, she has published many novels and works of non-fiction.

Keyes has written frankly about her clinical depression, which left her unable to sleep, read, write, or talk. After a long hiatus due to severe depression, a food title, Saved by Cake, was published in February 2012. Keyes' depressive period lasted about four years. During this time, she also wrote The Mystery of Mercy Close, a novel in which the heroine experiences similar battles with depression and suicide attempts as those Keyes herself experienced.

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.

Style

Although many of her novels are known as comedies, they revolve around dark themes, often drawn from Keyes's own experiences, including domestic violence, drug abuse, mental illness, divorce and alcoholism. Keyes considers herself a feminist, and has chosen to reflect feminist issues in many of her books. At an event at the Edinburgh Book Festival in August 2020, Keyes rejected the term chick lit as dismissive and sexist, as men writing similar fiction are not described as "dick lit".

Awards

Keyes has received a number of awards. In 2009, her novel, This Charming Man, was awarded Irish Popular Fiction Book by Irish Book Awards. She received two additional awards from Irish Book Awards: Ireland AM Popular Non-Fiction Book of the Year for the novel, Making It Up As I Go Along, in 2016, and Author of the Year in 2021.

Personal life

As of 2022 Keyes was living in Dún Laoghaire with her husband Tony Baines, whom she first met on his 30th birthday after returning to Ireland from Hampstead in 1997. She revealed that she had battled constant suicidal urges at the height of her mental illness.

Bibliography

Walsh Family

Watermelon (1995, Claire Walsh)
Rachel's Holiday (1998, Rachel Walsh)
Angels (2002, Maggie Walsh)
Anybody Out There? (2006, Anna Walsh)
Mammy Walsh's A–Z of the Walsh Family: An e-book Short (2012)
The Mystery of Mercy Close (2012, Helen Walsh)
Again, Rachel (2022, Rachel Walsh)
My Favourite Mistake (2024, Anna Walsh)

Standalone Fiction

Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married (1996)
Last Chance Saloon (1999)
Sushi for Beginners (2000)
No Dress Rehearsal (2000)
The Other Side of the Story (2004)
Nothing Bad ever Happens in Tiffany's (2005)
This Charming Man (2008)
The Brightest Star in the Sky (2009)
The Woman Who Stole My Life (2014)
The Break (2017)
Grown Ups (2020)

Non-fiction

Under the Duvet (2001)
Further under the Duvet (2005)
Cracks in my Foundation in Damage Control – Women on the Therapists, Beauticians, and Trainers Who Navigate Their Bodies (2007)
Saved by Cake (2012)
Making It Up As I Go Along (2016)

Radio

Between Ourselves With Marian Keyes BBC Radio 4 (2020–2021)
Now You're Asking with Marian Keyes and Tara Flynn, BBC Radio 4 (2022–present)

Film and television adaptations

Adaptations of Keyes' work include:

Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married (1999–2000)
Watermelon (2003)
Au secours j'ai trente ans (2004) – French adaptation of Last Chance Saloon
The Walsh Sisters (2025) -TV adaptation of Rachel's Holiday and Anybody Out There?
Grown Ups (2026)