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Synopsis

Her novels are adored by millions around the world – now read Marian Keyes’ collected journalism and exclusive, previously unpublished material in Under the Duvet.

Bursting with her hilarious observations on life, in-laws, weight loss and parties; her love of shoes and her LTFs (Long-Term Friends); the horrors of estates agents and lost luggage; and how she once had an office Christmas party that involved roasting two sheep on a spit, Moroccan style; it’s the perfect bed-time companion, and will have you wincing with recognition or roaring with laughter.

Reviews

Critic Review:

‘Anyone who has pored over Marian Keyes’ bestsellers will leap at the chance to discover another side to this much-loved author’
Hello

‘Her honesty and humour can have you laughing out loud’
Heat

‘Hilarious … will have you giggling out loud. A great book to dip into’
Company

Interview

Hot on the heels of Marian Keyes' No.1 bestseller, Sushi for Beginners, comes Under the Duvet, a warm and witty collection of funny stories and sharp observations on life, from high heels and movie deals to wagon wheels, shoes, reviews and having the blues.

We asked Marian to reveal what it's really like to be a bestselling author, how it feels to write her own account of her alcohol addiction, and what's next for Marian Keyes.

How would you describe your latest book Under the Duvet?
Under the Duvet is very, very different from all my other books because it's not a novel, it's a collection of journalism about my life, learning to drive, trying to buy a house and about my life as a writer. I've been doing various pieces for magazines and papers over a period of five years and it's all been collated and organised into lovely sections, like the glamour of being a writer and moving back to Ireland after I've lived in England for so many years. Hopefully people will get a lot of laughs out of it and it's also in a good cause; I'm giving my royalties from my Irish sales to The Simon Community, which is a charity that deals with the homeless. So it's a feel good thing all round, you get a laugh when you read it and you know your money is going to a good place.

What inspired you to collate all your work and ideas? Was it a starting point for wanting to do something for The Simon Community?
It was triggered when I moved back to Dublin about four years ago. I lived in the centre of Dublin and I got to know a lot of the homeless men who lived in my doorway and in the doorways around my flat and it had a big effect on me because I saw them as human beings and I got to know their circumstances. I was very touched by the problem of homelessness and after I had written about it in a fictionalised form in Sushi for Beginners I wanted to do something further to help. People had said to me over the years 'oh you really should collect all those bits and pieces of articles that you've done', and everything came together at the same time. It just seemed a good idea, because I felt I'd already been paid for the articles, even though I didn't get paid much, so I was happy for the royalties to go to the homeless charity.

Are you happy for your readers to get 'closer' to the real Marian, as opposed to reading about your characters?
I'm delighted, because there are so many myths that surround being a writer. I certainly thought before I started to write that the minute my book was published I would never be unhappy again and it would be a non-stop round of limos and joyous occasions and television appearances and stalkers and people running up and doing my make-up, and asking for autographs. What kind of surprised me was how ordinary life continues to be, even though I'm in the incredibly fortunate position of having books of mine in the bookshops. It is like a dream come true to have your books published, but you know you don't fundamentally change.

How do you think having your books published has changed you?
It took me a very long time to describe myself as a writer because I felt I was really lucky to have got away with it and I probably wouldn't pull it off a second time. It probably took until book five, Sushi for Beginners, before I could say I'm a writer. Maybe it's because if you're working for someone else you have a title and you're defined from outside. I've always tried to keep my kind of self-definition separate from my job - I love it so much that I am afraid it will be taken away and so because of that I've always been careful to remember that I'm someone else as well.

You mention in Under the Duvet that you like to write in bed, hence the title. Do you enjoy the process of writing?
I have days that are absolutely wonderful and I write all the stuff that I had never known was in me and I've surprised myself and made myself laugh, and then I have had days when it has been like trying to get blood out of a turnip. I'm very all or nothing in every area of my life, so I'm either belting through it and lashing down 2000 words in three or four hours or I'm painstakingly going through it and I'm moving things around and deleting paragraphs. Moving words around is just as important as the splurge of creativity, I'm a Virgo, a perfectionist, and I like things to be neat and tidy. I think it takes me longer to write books than it takes my contemporaries because the feel of the book filters through me more slowly than it does other people. I actually feel what my characters are going through before I am happy to write about it, so that's really how it is.

Does your family provide inspiration?
The writing in Under the Duvet is 'real life' and I'm very fond of my family, we're a very colourful lot. There are five siblings altogether, but it feels like lots more, we're all kind of volatile and I think the whole thing comes from my mother who is very, very funny although on the outside she was a very well behaved Irish Catholic mammy. The columns have been inspired by a lot of things, like I had a party and I was so afraid that nobody would come so I made my brother bring fifty-seven of his closest friends, and he actually did.

Do you know what you're going to write about beforehand?
I never have a clue what a book is going to be about, ever. I always start with one character and have a vague idea of background or setting. For instance I knew Sushi for Beginners would be set in the magazine world, but other than that I didn't know how my characters would interact with each other, and I didn't know who would get off with who, and who was going to end up with what man, and who was going to change and who was going to come through fairly unscathed by the book. I like the unexpectedness of what my characters do, because life is like that, weird stuff happens all the time and I'm always intrigued by how we adapt to change. I've described writing as like climbing a mountain in the dark, you know, I don't know where I'm going and it is kind of a case of looking for the next toe holder or foothold before I can move forward. It's a really kind of an exciting process and I would prefer the way I do it than the safer way.

What was the starting point for Rachel's Holiday, and was it important to you to write about your addiction?
The addicted character was the starting point. I had already touched on addiction in Lucy Sullivan's Getting Married, through her dad's alcoholism, and it was a further step to actually write about addiction first-hand. I still love writing about addiction and alcoholism because it is so pivotal to who I am and I know that maybe the next book that I write, not the novel I am writing at the moment, but possibly book seven, will be about a recovering alcoholic. I'm very interested in addiction in all it's manifestations because I think we live in very addictive times and it's possible to get addicted to so much and not just the traditional substances like drink and drugs, but food, exercise, work and unsuitable men. I am fascinated by, not so much by the addiction I suppose, but the recovery from it. I love the process of how human beings heal and it's something that I keep wanting to explore and certainly with Rachel's Holiday it was a definite decision to write about a character who was mired with addiction, and mired in denial.

Did you find writing about your own alcoholism, as opposed to that of a fictional character, hard?
It wasn't that hard because I've talked about it a lot in press interviews and they've so rarely quoted me accurately or the headlines have been so sensational, that I was delighted to have this opportunity to tell the story of my addiction and my recovery in my words, without having someone else's agenda distorting the direction of it. There is a kind of taboo around alcoholism, there's still a stigma attached to it, especially to female alcoholics, but I don't judge myself, I'm not ashamed of it. I wouldn't have wished it on myself but I've come through it and I've been lucky enough to have recovered from it, and it's made me the person I am today. It's made me a more compassionate person than I probably would have been if I hadn't gone through that kind of horrific time. So it was fine to write about it and it's the most accurate account that has been published.

In Under the Duvet you describe working at a magazine as research for Sushi for Beginners. If you weren't an author do you think you could have made it in the glamorous world of magazine publishing?
I'm absolutely sure I couldn't, I would be so clueless. Everyone who worked there always looked so effortlessly glossy and they always looked 'band box fresh'. They never had mascara smudges under their eyes and their hems and buttons never fell off, but that's me - my heels fall off my shoes, I forget things - I would be absolutely dreadful in that world. I would be totally intimidated, so that is one job I don't yearn for in a parallel life.

Is there anything you miss about London now you've moved back to Ireland?
I miss loads of things about London. I still have a lot of friends here and that's difficult, and the shoe shops, good Lord, Dublin is great and has caught up in an awful lot of ways, but for some reason it is shamefully remiss in the shoe shop department. I love the buzz of London and I love the architecture - I've only noticed it now that I don't live here anymore.

Can you tell us about your new book?
It's provisionally called Angels and it's about another member of the Walsh family. Of the five sisters there was one sister Margaret who was a lick arse, but she's not so much of a lick arse anymore. She has been married to a dull but worthy man and she runs away to Hollywood to visit her friend Emily who is a failed scriptwriter on the fringes of Hollywood. This is not a Jackie Collins novel, this is not a glamorous novel, it is about people who are probably never going to make it, people on the edge, the vast numbers of people waiting tables and waiting for their big break. At the same time it's a journey of personal discovery, because it's the story of Margaret and the break-up of her marriage which is told through flash backs throughout the book; so as things are happening to her and she's moving forward in Los Angeles, the back part of her life is also catching up with her. I've had an awful lot of fun writing this book, I'm about three quarters of the way through and I hope to be finished at the end of the year anyway.

Out of the all the books you've written which was the hardest book to write?
Watermelon was the easiest because I hadn't a clue what I was doing, and they say a little bit of knowledge is a dangerous thing. The second book, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, was much harder, I thought I could replicate the light-hearted approach I took to Watermelon and I was told by my editor to go back into myself, into my darkness and make it a more interesting book. The third book Rachel's Holiday was even harder and the killer was Last Chance Saloon. I fully expected that every book would just get tougher, but Sushi for Beginners was an absolute joy to write from start to finish - it just wanted to be written - and Angels, the book I'm writing at the moment, has been easier than the others, so I'm delighted. I would continue to do it even if it was hard because I think it's worth doing and I love doing it.

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