I pretty much adore everything Marian Keyes writes. This is her latest, not out quite yet, and I have to say within 10 pages I was loving it. The novel is very typical Keyes, which I say in a positive way. It hooks you with humor and maybe a little sexiness or a little romance and then she starts to reveal that the story is deeper and maybe even darker, than you first thought. I’m not so sure her recent books have been like this, but I thought that here she reminded me of her earlier novels like Sushi for Beginners, Rachel’s Holiday, and Anybody Out There, which I loved.
In this story a sort-of omniscient spirit visits a house in Dublin that has four apartments. The narrator tells you all about the residents of each of them and begins to weave their stories together. There’s the elderly lady who has a touch of the second sight; Kate, who’s just turned 40 and is in a relationship with a wealthy but not so great guy, Conall, two Polish guys who live with feisty Lydia who is a nasty bitch to everyone, and Matt and Maeve, a deeply in love couple. Matt and Maeve become the central figures in the. At first they appear to be the picture of bliss, but soon little cracks are revealed that show that all is not well or what it seems. The narrator easily goes back in time to fill in everyone’s stories.
Another winner–absolutely charming.
This was our book club choice last month and I’m glad it was chosen because I remember wanting to read it when it came out. I really enjoyed this, despite a little hesitancy about reading about a young widow. Since getting engaged (almost six years ago, now married for 5) nothing has been scarier than the thought of my husband dying while we are still young. We all expect that at some point when we are old one of us will have to live without the other, but no one expects that after finally finding the right person and imagining growing old together your partner might die before you have even gotten out of your honeymoon phase, much less had children. That is the situation 36 year old Sophie (my age even!) finds herself in when her husband Ethan dies of cancer. 
