by Andrew Cai

Created on: November 19, 2011   Last Updated: November 20, 2011

Do the works Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Watermelon, or This Charming Man sound familiar?  All three of these bestselling works were written by the talented Irish novelist and non-fiction writer, Marian Keyes. 

Born on September 1963 in Limerick, Ireland to a middle-class family, Keyes was raised along with four younger siblings in a loving atmosphere.  Yet, she stated that by the time she was a toddler, she never felt like she belonged.  Though she performed well academically, Keyes insecurity affected her social life, including relationships with men.  By the time she was 14 years old, Keyes had started drinking.  Keyes went on to attend the University College in Dublin and though she attained a law degree, she never felt secure enough to pursue the law career.  By this time, Keyes was already interested in writing, and she applied to the journalism program, but was not accepted.  Feeling rebellious, she moved to London and worked as a waitress.  Her free time was spent drinking and partying.  Keyes also worked as an accounts clerk using her degree. Her drinking increased to a point where she questioned her self-esteem because she wanted to fit in.  She knew that the drinking was affecting her and she longed to live a more conventional life. 

In January 1994, Keyes went over the edge and attempted suicide by overdosing on pills.  Her friend, who she had called, got her immediate help and Keyes was sent back to her parents in Ireland.  At a rehabilitation clinic, she admitted that she had an issue with alcohol and from that point on; she pulled her life together and remained sober.

After her epiphany, Keyes returned to London and began her pursuit in writing.  In 1995, just a year later after her own attempt on her life, Keyes novel, Watermelon, was published.  After her big debut success on her novel, Keyes life began to improve.  She married Tony Baines on December 1995 and quit her accounting job in 1996.  However, she worried that after such a big success, there was no way she could redo the process.  She was proven wrong as her second novel, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, was a bigger hit than her first novel. 

By the late 1990s, Keyes was quickly becoming one of the best known Irish authors and richest people in the British Isles.  She continues to push herself to continue her success.

Marian Keyes’ style draws events from her life and incorporates humor as well as dark real-life issues, like drug abuse and depression.  Yet, Keyes always manages to end on a happy note, making her novels predictable but still exciting. Her novels are targeted towards a female audience, but over the years, her writing connected with a wider audience by focusing more on the workplace.  Almost all of her novels have been translated into 30 languages and by 2005, she had sold more than nine million copies. 

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