Angels - Softcover

Keyes, Marian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0060008032 ISBN 13: 9780060008031

Publisher: HarperCollins, 2003

Synopsis

The internationally bestselling author of Last Chance Saloon, the incomparable Marian Keyes is back with a delirious celebration of life, love, and sisterhood in La-La Land. The only one of her siblings not burdened with the "diva gene," Maggie Walsh always prided herself on her normalcy -- until she caught her irreproachable husband having an affair and was sacked from her dependable job. Suddenly her perfectly organized existence has become a perfect mess. Rather than stew in her sorrow, she decides, for the first time in her life, to do something daring -- and flees to the shelter of her best friend Emily in the faraway wonderland of Los Angeles. In this mecca of tanned, beautiful bodies, unsvelte, uncool Maggie is decidedly a fish out of water. Yet overnight, she's mixing with film folk, pitching scripts, even experimenting with sex -- and discovering that the end of a marriage is not the end of everything. And before she's through, neither the City of Angels nor Maggie Walsh will ever be the same again.

About this title

Review

A new Marian Keyes novel is always something to celebrate, and her sixth novel, Angels, will have you cheering. From the first couple of sentences: "I'd always lived a fairly blameless life. Up until the day I left my husband and ran away to Hollywood, I'd hardly ever put a foot wrong" to the hugely satisfying last page, you're immediately involved in the story of Maggie Walsh's life; of how it went wrong, and then went right again.

The Walshes starred in a previous Keyes novel, the delightful Rachel's Holiday; Maggie is Rachel's older sister, (one of five) and the only one who "never did any of that nasty sleeping around business". Instead she got married to her first boyfriend Paul Garvan and everything was fine, until they suffered a couple of "setbacks". Unable to face sorting out the difficulties, Maggie hightails it to Los Angeles to stay with her old pal Emily. Emily is a script writer, her short film A Perfect Day was a big hit in Ireland, but her working life is a little tougher in the land of sunshine and fat-free Pringles. The two girls, along with a supporting cast of wannabes, scary film studio folk and slacker next door neighbours, get on with sorting out their emotional issues in a stylishly witty, wonderfully warm fashion. Maggie's devilish ex-boyfriend and the commitment phobic Troy add in a delightful frisson of sexual tension.

Marian Keyes observations on the foibles of love and LA are laugh-out-loud funny, but there's a beguiling tenderness there too. By the time you reach the final full stop you'll be sighing with contentment, and just wishing that Marian would get a move on with the next book. --Eithne Farry

Review

Maggie Walsh is supposed to be the sensible one - the white sheep of the family. She lives less than a mile from Mum and Dad and married middle-of-the-road Garv. But that is about to change . . .

'I'd always lived a fairly blameless life . . . up until the day I left my husband and ran away to Hollywood . . .'

(from the publisher's description)

Edition details

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 2003
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0060008032
• ISBN 13: 9780060008031
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• Number of pages: 464