Marian Keyes - live web chat - Friday, 20th March

We had a fantastic a live webchat with Marian Keyes between on Friday 20th March - you can read the questions and answers on the thread below.

Marian Keyes is a publishing phenomenon. Though she didn't start writing until ten years ago, she is now one of the most successful Irish novelists of all time. She describes herself as "an accidental novelist." Though she was brought up in a home where a lot of oral story-telling went on, it never occurred to her that she could write. Instead she studied law and accountancy and finally started writing short stories in 1993 "out of the blue." Though she had no intention of ever writing a novel ("It would take too long") she sent her short stories to a publisher, with a letter saying she'd started work on a novel. She was born in Limerick in 1963, and brought up in Cavan, Cork, Galway and Dublin; she spent her twenties in London, but is now living in Dún Laoghaire with her husband Tony. She includes among her hobbies, reading, movies, shoes, handbags and feminism.

About This Charming Man:

Lola has just found out that her boyfriend - charismatic politician Paddy de Courcy - is getting married. To someone else. Heartbroken, Lola flees the city for a cottage by the sea. But will Lola's retreat prove as idyllic as she hopes? Journalist Grace wants the inside story on Paddy de Courcy's engagement and thinks Lola holds the key to it. Grace knew Paddy a long time ago. But why can't she forget him? Grace's sister, Marnie, might have the answer but she also has issues with the past. Her loving loving husband and beautiful daughters are wonderful, but they can't take away memories of her first love: a certain Paddy de Courcy. What will it take for Marnie to be able to move on? Alicia Thornton is Paddy's wife-to-be. Determined to be the perfect wife, Alicia would do anything for her fiance. But does she know the real Paddy? Four very different women. One awfully charming man. And the dark secret that binds them all.

Read more about Marian on her author page and watch a video

Buy the book

Comments

[Louise Raynham]

The concept is good and I like the Silent Character of Paddy de Courcy - not really seen or heard but pivotal to the narrative. However, I found this one a little bitty and would've liked more from the Alicia character. Although this isn't my favourite of Marian's book (that definitely has to be Lucy Sullivan), I still have to read everything she writes. Perhaps it's because I have Irish connections myself, but I like that she's found her style, she knows what she's good at and she sticks with it. Please don't ever change!

[Georgina Tranter]

Marian, I am a huge fan of your books and think they are some of the funniest I have ever read. I would like to know which of your books is your favourite and why?

[Nina]

What advice can you give to wannabe novelists?

[Emma]

Marian, can you describe the process you go through from your initial idea for a novel to how you feel when you have finished writing? P.S. I love your books!

[Lynsay Lambert]

Hi Marian, I'm so pleased you're doing a webchat here!

I remember when you brought out Rachel's Holiday, and reading an interview in which you said someone had reviewed it saying it was 'fluffy' or something along those lines, clearly without reading it. Has that ever happened since, or did that critic ever take back their words?

Also, which other authors are your favourites?

[Irma Rissanen]

Hi Marian,

I love your books, you have an absolutely fantastic sense of humor!! Why do you think that all the best chick lit authors are Irish? I have often wondered about this!

[Gaynor Marr]

Hi Marian

I have just finished reading Anybody Out There?
I was wondering if you are planning to write anymore Walsh family books?

[Trina]

Hi Marian,

I love reading your books, i have written a list of your books that you have written, there are 4 that i can not find, please could you tell me where i might find them to complete my collection?

Yeats is dead
Irish girls about town
Nothing bad ever happens at tiffanys

I never could sit down and read a book, till i saw you on tv, from then on as i say, i can not put your books down!

[Donna Salmon]

Hi Marian

I love your books and your monthly blog. I know you are currently busy editing your new book. Can you give us any gossip on what we can expect?

[Louise]

Hi Marian, I love all your books but especially the ones about the Walsh sisters. Which sister is most like you and do you plan on writing about any of them again in future?

[Rachel Simm]

Hi Marian
I just lurvve your books. I am a bookseller for Waterstones and a standard interview question for a bookselling jobs is 'Tell us about your all time favourite book that you have read'. So Marian can you tell us? Love the books, keep em coming...Any chance of paying a visit to Wigan soon? :o)

[Sarah Biglin]

Hi Marian
Was you latest book, this chaming man,which focused on absuive reletionships, based on any of your own personal experiences?

[James Hughes]

Hi Marian

Can you always tell if female fiction has been written by a man? Especially If you didn't see any name on the cover?

Regards
James

[Yvonne & Melissa]

Hi Marian, it's Yvonne & Melissa here from Nottingham Waterstone's. It would be wonderful if you could come and visit us again.
I was just wondering if you ever got that dress that Anna Friel wore in Watermelon? :)
We're selling loads of 'This Charming Man' for you, we've got it all piled up by the tills!
Love you lots.

[Marian Keyes]

Georgina: Favourite book.
I couldn't have a favourite book Georgina, it would be like asking a mother to pick her favourite child. However, I'm always very excited about what I'm currently working on, which at the moment is a book called The Brightest Star in the Sky. But I expect that once I finish it and it's published that it'll become no more or less loved than any of the others

[Marian Keyes]

Rachel, my favourite book ever?
God, is's hard no? So many amazing books have been written. But if you had to put a gun to my head I'd probably say Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson. As for plans to visit Wigan, none in the pipeline at the moment, I'm sorry!

[Marian Keyes]

Louise, any more books on the Walsh sisters planned?
Thanks for asking and the person everyone wants to see get their own book is Helen, the badser sister. However, it's tricky because what I love about Helen is the fact that underneath her prickly exterior beats a heart of stone and as I work in emotional deconstruction and reconstruction, I think she's not an ideal candidate. I love her fearlessness and I don't want to discover that she's really a lost soul flailing in the dark. I've thought that a way round it might be to write a comic detective novel, starring Helen, but as yet, I haven't felt confident enough to tackle it.

[Marian Keyes]

Gaynor, any more Walsh books planned?
If you see the post under Louise, I hope this answers it for you, thanks a million for asking!

[Marian Keyes]

Nina, advice to wannabe novelists
Just do it! I know this is brutal advice and it's not what people want to hear, they want to hear the magic formula, but sadly there isn't one. Just set time aside, and put one word in front of the other and expect your first efforts to be shockingly atrocious, but persist! Write what you know or else be prepared to research it. I think it helps if you're a big reader, it gives you some instinctive idea of how a narrative arc works. Most of all, enjoy it. If you enjoy it, chances are so will others. Good luck with it all!

[Marian Keyes]

Irma, why are best Chick-lit authors Irish?
god, I don't really know. It might have something to do with the Irish approach to grief, which is to use laughter as a survival mechanism. Could that be it? Sorry I don't have a more definitive answer, but definitly in my own life, I've used humour to get me through gruesome personal situations and this definitely spills over into my work.

[Marian Keyes]

Rachel in Wigan, my favourte book of all time?
I already posted an answer to you and it hasn't appeared so maybe I said something controversial! But all I said was that it's very hard to choose one book but if you put a gun to my head I'm probably pick Behind the Scenes by Kate Atkinson. Also, there are no plans to visit Wigan in the forthcoming - maybe that was the controversial bit... Thanks a million for the positive comments.

[James Hughes]

Hi Marian

Can you always tell if female fiction has been written by a male author?

James

[Zoe]

Mine is more of a thank you! In April 2006, me and my fiance were in a car crash and my fiance was tragically killed. About a month after the accident, my best friend (who knows how much I love your books)brought me 'Anybody Out there'. Neither of us had a clue what it was about, so it was kind of weird that she brought me that at that particular time. Anyway, i just wanted to say how much your book gave me a feeling that I wasnt totally alone. It felt like someone else was feeling exactly what I was and made my feelings (although extremely painful) seem normal. The whole time I was reading it, I was like 'oh my god, that is exactly how I feel'. Have you personally been through a tradegy such as this? And will you be writing anymore about Anna Walsh? Thankyou..xx

[Marian Keyes]

Donna, the new book?
Now this is incredibly hard to do because in the case of this book a few line description can't convey the flavour of the book. Okay, it's an ensemble piece, with a cast of dozens. It's set in a house in Dublin which has been converted into 4 flats and at the beginning of the novel a 'presence' arrives. I know this sounds maybe whimsical or esoteric or whatever, but actually the presence is something very real and no-one yet has guessed what it is. They think it's Death or a ghost, but it's none of those things. So the lives of the inhabitants are lived out and the story starts of 'Day 61' and counts down daily, heading for Day Zero when it becomes clear what is going to happen. It's a really lovely book, very pacy, very funny. Much lighter than This Charming Man but still has a heart of darkness. I have to say I'm very very pleased with it, it's a hopeful, uplifting read. I've given it to some trusted people to read and everyone without fail has said that it's their favourite of all my books. Is that okay? Does that explain enough? Thanks for asking.

[Marian Keyes]

Lyndsay: Rachel being 'fluffy.'
You're so funny to remember this! I'm sure the journo never took it back. Funnily enough she is still top on my 'List of Enemies' (a fairly short list.) I see her writing articles and reviews still and I always curdle slightly when I see her name. But cest la vie, no? The thing is that if her comment was sincerly meant, then fair enough, but I'm CERTAIN that she hadn't read the book. And my favourite authors? I read a lot of crime. I ADORE Michael Connolly. Dennis Lehane, Val McDermid, Ian Rankin, Christopher Brookmyer. Anna Blundy, Greg Iles. Thanks!