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Friday, August 9, 2024

My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes

 



My Favourite Mistake by Marian Keyes is the seventh book in the Walsh family series.  These are not small books - this book is over 400 pages.  I think the first book by Keyes that I picked up was before heading on vacation with the plan of one or two big books and not five relatively smaller books.

The Walsh family is a large and busy Irish family.  They like to all get involved in each other's lives and drama - quite often they create drama.  Each book focuses on a different family member and this one is Anna.   Anna has gone through tragedy years ago when her husband tragically died in a car accident but years later life is looking good for Anna.  She has an amazing PR job in New York with a feathery stroker boyfriend.  But then 2020 hits, Anna starts perimenopause, and basically is homesick for Ireland and her family.  In a rash decision she leaves her job and breaks up with her boyfriend and moves back home.  Without a plan for money or her future the first few months feel glum.  When one of her sister's friends is in crisis with a business they are trying to get running Anna finally finds a purpose.  Unfortunately, it involves a guy from her past Narky Joe.  Together they navigate helping this business giving the family one less worry.  Everything will work out if Anna could just find a doctor to give her some HRT medicine.

This book isn't a quick read - at least not for me.  It took me a bit to get into it and then read the last 200 pages in a day.  It's also filled with some Irish words and phrases that I sometimes didn't understand but for me it certainly didn't take away from the story.  I think I've always had a bit of a fondness for Irish authors.  If I'd had a girl I would have liked to name her Maeve after Maeve Binchy.  In fact I would say Marian Keyes books are for fans of Binchy's novels.  I might also call Marian Keyes the Irish Sophie Kinsella.