Marian Keyes

"I had to go back to New York and try to find him. There was a chance he mightn't be there but I had to give it a go because there was one thing I was certain of: he wasn't here.'

Anna Walsh is officially a wreck. Physically broken and emotionally shattered, she lies on her parents' Dublin sofa with only one thing on her mind: getting back to New York. New York means her apartment, The Most Fabulous Job In The World... and above all, it means her husband, Aidan.

But nothing in Anna's life is that simple...

Not only is her return to Manhattan complicated by her physical and emotional scars - but Aidan seems to have vanished.

Is it time for Anna to move on? Is it even possible to?

A motley group of misfits, an earth-shattering revelation, two births and one very weird wedding might help Anna find some answers - and change her life forever...

Hilarious, heartbreaking and life-affirming, Marian's unforgettable new novel is as epic as it is entertaining.

Anybody Out There? will be published in 2006.

JOJO HARVEY is a literary agent whose star is on the rise. In love with both her married boss and her burgeoning career, not much distracts her. Until she finds herself representing two women who used to be best friends. One of them, Gemma, has suddenly found herself from a broken home - at the age of thirty-two. Meanwhile, Lily - the woman Gemma has always blamed for stealing her one chance of happiness - is enjoying the overnight success of her debut novel. Set in the world of publishing, 'The Other Side of the Story' is about love, loyalty, glass ceilings and survival tactics - and what to do when you get your chance for revenge.

More extracts and reviews on "The Other Side of the Story"

MAGGIE has always been the white sheep of the Walsh family. Unlike her comically dysfunctional sisters, Rachel (heroine of Rachel's Holiday) and Claire (heroine of Watermelon), she married a decent man who adored her and found herself a solid career. Where Rachel was reckless and Claire dramatic, Maggie settled early for safety. Or so she believed until she discovers that her husband is having an affair and her boss is going to fire her. Suddenly, her perfectly organized life has become a perfect mess.

Devastated, she decides the only thing to do is to run for the shelter of her best friend, Emily, who lives in Los Angeles. There, with the help of sunshine and long days at the beach, she will lick her wounds and decide where life will take her next.But from the moment she lands in the City of Angels, things are not quite what she expected. Overnight, she's mixing with movie stars, even pitching film scripts to studios. Most unexpectedly of all, she finds that just because her marriage is over, it doesn't mean her life is. In the end neither the City of Angels nor Maggie Walsh will ever be the same again.

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TO LISA, a nervous breakdown seems like a great idea: all that lying in bed and watching daytime TV. But who's going to have it? Will it be housewife Clodagh, who spends her days microwaving pasta for her demanding toddlers and waiting for her beautiful husband Dylan to come home? Or Lisa, hard, brittle and shiny as an M&M, reeling from the shock of a demotion from her fabulous job in London to a one-horse magazine in Dublin? Or Ashling, so normal she's weird?

Sushi for Beginners is set in the world of fashion magazines and underground comedy clubs in Dublin. Keyes brings together a cast of characters that includes Lisa- an uptight, Prada wearing magazine editor, Clodagh- a domestic married princess with too much time on her hands and Ashling- a woman who worries about everything. Each woman has her issues that she is dealing with, but the lesson in the end is still the same. That is the lesson of searching for happiness, and how you just might get what you want if you ask for it.

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LIZZIE hasn't realised that she's dead yet. She can't understand why everyone is ignoring her when all she wants is a little sympathy. She has been in an accident, after all. Next day at work, she meets two spirits who've been sent to break the news.

Marian: "I wrote No Dress Rehearsal specially for those who have come to reading later in life. It is part of a series of books, which have subject matters suitable for adults, but are written in simple, accessible English. Hopefully these books will by enjoyed by and encourage those who are learning to read. For these reasons, No Dress Rehearsal is a lot shorter than books I usually write. I must apologise to anyone who bought this book, under the impression that they were getting a full-length novel. I hope you weren't too disappointed and, despite its brevity, that you enjoyed it. PS All my royalties from it are going to charity."

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WHAT HAPPENS when a psychic tells Lucy that she'll be getting married within the year? Her roommates panic! What is going to happen to their blissful existence of eating take-out, drinking too much wine, bringing men home, and never vacuuming? Lucy reassures her friends that she's far too busy arguing with her mother and taking care of her irresponsible father to get married. And then there's the small matter of not even having a boyfriend. But then Lucy meets gorgeous, unreliable Gus. Could he be the future Mr. Lucy Sullivan? Or could it be handsome Chuck? Or Daniel, the world's biggest flirt? Or even cute Jed, the new guy at work? Maybe her friends have something to worry about after all....

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A REAL TREAT - the incredibly funny jottings of a hugely bestselling and much-loved author Her books are read and adored by millions around the world - now read the collected journalism of the woman who writes them: the woman under the duvet. Marian loves shoes and her LTFs (Long Term Friends), hates estate agents and lost luggage, and she once had a Christmas office party that involved roasting two sheep on a spit, the Moroccan way. She's just like you and me...

Excerpt: "Tuesday night, Temple Bar, SynergyDance - I had no idea what to expect. Speaking to the teacher, Danielle beforehand, she talked of Tantric energy and using dance to release sexuality and bring heightened awareness to mind, body and spirit. Because of the activating sexuality bit I'd brought Himself, a man who has no time whatsoever for anything even vaguely New Age. He pleaded to be absolved from going, but all I could say was, "You either come with me, or you accept that I may not be responsible for my actions on the bus home." He came with me."

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THE FAST LANE is much too slow for Rachel Walsh. And Manhattan is the perfect place for a young Irish female to overdo everything. But Rachel's love of a good time is about to land her in the emergency room. It will also cost her a job and the boyfriend she adores.When her loving family hustles her back home and checks her into Ireland's answer to the Betty Ford Clinic, Rachel is hopeful. Perhaps it will be lovely -- spa treatments, celebrities, that kind of thing. Instead, she finds a lot of group therapy, which leads her, against her will, to some important self-knowledge. She will also find something that all women like herself fear: a man who might actually be good for her.

Excerpt: "They said I was a drug addict. I found that hard to come to terms with -- I was a middle-class, convent-educated girl whose drug use was strictly recreational. And surely drug addicts were thinner? It was true that I took drugs, but what no one seemed to understand was that my drug use wasn't any different from their having a drink or two on a Friday night after work. They might have a few vodkas and tonic and let off a bit of steam. I had a couple of lines of cocaine and did likewise"

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BEST FRIENDS since the days when legwarmers were cool, Tara, Katherine, and Fintan have survived small-town ennui, big-city heartbreak, and endless giddy nights out on the town. But now that they've graduated to their slightly more serious thirties, only Fintan has what can honestly be called a "love life." With Tara struggling daily with her eternal diet -- and her dreadful, penny-pinching boyfriend -- and Katherine keeping her single existence as ordered as her drawer full of matching bra and panty sets, it seems they'll never locate the exit door out of the "last chance saloon."But it's always when you are least ready for change that fate insists on one. And when catastrophe inevitably follows crisis, the lives of three best friends are sure to change in unexpected ways...and not necessarily for the worse.

Excerpt: "Katherine made murmury soothing noises, as she had every time over the past fifteen years when Tara had fallen off the food wagon. Katherine could eat exactly what she liked, precisely because she didn't want to. From her glossy exterior she looked like the kind of woman who never had struggles with anything. The cool gray eyes that looked out from underneath her smooth dark bangs were assured and appraising. She knew this. She practiced a lot when she was on her own"

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AT TWENTY-NINE, fun-loving, good-natured Claire has everything she ever wanted: a husband she adores, a great apartment, a good job. Then, on the day she gives birth to her first baby, James visits her in the recovery room to inform her that he's leaving her. Claire is left with a beautiful newborn daughter, a broken heart, and a body that she can hardly bear to look at in the mirror. So, in the absence of any better offers, Claire decides to go home to her family in Dublin. To her gorgeous man-eating sister Helen, her soap-watching mother, her bewildered father. And there, sheltered by the love of an (albeit quirky) family, she gets better. A lot better. In fact, so much better that when James slithers back into her life, he's in for a bit of a surprise.

Excerpt: "Well, my name is Claire and I'm twenty-nine and, as I mentioned, I've just had my first child two days ago (a little girl, seven pounds, four ounces, totally beautiful) and my husband (did I mention his name is James?) told me about twenty-four hours ago that he has been having an affair for the past six months, with -- and get this -- not even his secretary or someone glamorous from work, but with a married woman who lives in the apartment two floors below us. I mean, how suburban can you get! And not only is he having an affair but he wants a divorce"

More extracts and reviews on "Watermelon"

Marian: "Hello and welcome to Further Under the Duvet, the follow-up to Under The Duvet, my first volume of journalism. I say 'journalism' but the articles included here are mostly humorous autobiographical pieces about subjects like my great love of make-up and ill-health and my great fear of being trapped on a bus in a foreign country with forty Irish people (it's the singing .) There are also a few more serious pieces about feminism, mediums and charity trips I've made to Ethiopia and Russia

All my royalties from the Irish sales of the hardback will go to To Russia With Love, a wonderful charity that works with Russian ophans. And thank you very much for reading this book, I sincerely hope you enjoy it"

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