Rachel's Holiday: A Hay Festival and The Poole VOTE 100 BOOKS for Women Selection

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To celebrate the 25th birthday today of Marian Keyes’s now classic novel Rachel’s Holiday, we asked fellow writers to explain what Rachel and Marian mean to them a b c Taylor, Sarah (17 March 2017). "Desert Island Discs". BBC Radio 4 . Retrieved 20 October 2017. Rachel’s Holiday came very highly recommended by my friends Jana and Ali, both of whom mentioned that this was one of the few books that has been with them many years, through various moves, bookshelf cleanouts, etc. Both of their copies were falling apart. They said it was amazing. And it WAS.

Keyes has written frankly about her clinical depression, which left her unable to sleep, read, write, or talk. After a long hiatus due to severe depression, a food title, Saved by Cake, was published in February 2012. [8] I don’t know if you’ve ever read the sequel of a book you’ve loved, and very often the sequel just doesn’t give you the same happy feels of the first book,” she said. “When that happens to me, I not only dislike the sequel, I then start to side-eye the original book and think, was it really that good in the first place? You know there’s a lot to be damaged here, but I’m going into it and I’m enjoying it, and it’s really lovely to connect to all the Walsh family.”Rachel is the second Walsh sister to feature in a novel of her own, the first being the story of her sister, Claire, in 1997’s ‘Watermelon’. I'm not usually someone to try and guess how a story will end and find it much more enjoyable to just follow wherever the author leads me, but if you're not like me and you're looking for surprising twists and turns, then maybe this is not for you. The first person point of view is expertly employed to hide certain things from the reader, revealing them only as Rachel herself is forced to face the truth. (I'm not usually a fan of first person POV because it feels like sleight of hand or amateur hour all too often, but it's absolutely appropriate and effective here.)

She's been living it up in New York City, spending her nights talking her way into glamorous parties before heading home in the early hours to her hot boyfriend, Luke.

Who stars in Rachel's Holiday: Cast List

First of all, I would like a recount on just how many years it has been, I have to admit to being completely shaken by the fact that the first, much read copy of this novel, landed in my lap courtesy of Cosmopolitan magazine all those years ago. Wa-atch,’ he laughingly invites, ‘as Rachel thinks she’s got a new job and that it’s safe to hand in her notice on the old. Little does she know that her new firm is just about to go bankrupt! ’

At the start of the book, we are in denial as to the extent of her drug addiction problems and just think her family are being ott. Then gradually as it dawns on Rachel just how far she has fallen, our eyes are opened too and her addiction is exposed in all its ugliness. Marian Keyes has described her own battle with alcoholism and you just know she is drawing on her own experiences here. The clinic and group therapy classes have a ring of truth about them and for all the hilarity there are lines that dart straight to your heart and make you think about your own addictions. But I found myself inexorably drawn into her story. I couldn't put the book down. I was seriously absorbed. I HAD to find out how she was going to resolve her life. I HAD to know if she was going to come out of denial, if she was going to realize what a stupid beeyatch she was....I really needed there to be resolution for this story. But the best bit of all,’ laughs Jeremy, ‘ is that the man she was meeting never turns up ! He only asked her out for a bet. Watch as Rachel squirms with embarrassment in the stylish bar. See the looks of pity the other women give her ? See how the waiter gives her the extortionate bill for a glass of wine, and best of all, see how Rachel discovers she’s left her purse at home? ’ I’ve already spoken to them at your work and they agree with me that you should come home,’ he said.The life she has left, the family home where she felt suffocated by the wants and needs of those around her is the place she needs to return to to find herself.