Product Description

It's bad enough that Claire's husband James left her the day he was at the birth of their first child - I mean, if he thought it was going to upset him that much he should have just stayed at home - but to rub salt into the episiotomy, he didn't even have the decency to leave her for someone skinny!He's just absconded, leaving Claire with a newborn baby, a broken heart, two extra stone and an …er…birth canal ten times its normal size.In the absence of any better offers, Claire goes home to her family. To her beautiful sister Helen, her soap-watching mother, her bewildered father. And in a story that's both hilarious and bitter-sweet, Claire just 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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1247 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-07
• Binding: Paperback
• 624 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Marian Keyes begins Watermelon with a rather inauspicious romantic opening when the heroine's husband leaves her for Denise from the flat downstairs the day their first child is born. Claire, the deserted wife and mother, returns to her family in Dublin and, after going through the required stages of "Loss, Loneliness, Hopelessness and Humiliation", begins to feel much better--so much better that when James tries to win his way back into her affections, he gets more than he bargained for.

The author's style is too blunt and her setting too suburban (with its all-too-human heroine struggling to keep her sanity, tend to her new-born baby, fight it out with siblings and begin to love again) to be a traditional romance, but there is enough chemistry and mystery to keep you guessing in the lip-smacking Watermelon--a dish that may not fill you up but will certainly give you a taster of Marian Keyes' work, of which there is much to sample, including Lucy Sullivan is getting Married, Rachel's Holiday and Last Chance Saloon. --Nicola Perry

Synopsis
This work tells a hilarious and bitter-sweet tale of baby-blues and fruitless men. The original Marian Keyes novel is back! 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. "A grand first novel by Irish writer Keyes is a hilarious treatise on love's roller coaster. A candid, irresistibly funny debut and perfect summertime read." - "Kirkus Reviews". "Bitter-sweet comedy." - "Express". "Marian Keyes has a talent for writing about ordinary things happening to ordinary people.

But in "Watermelon", the skill with which she weaves this tangled web is extraordinary." - "Star". "Reading a new novel by Marian Keyes is like sitting at the kitchen table with your nicest, most confiding friend" - "Daily Mail".

From the Publisher
An hilarious and bitter-sweet tale of baby-blues and fruitless men. The original Marian Keyes novel is back!

Customer Reviews

A wonderful first novel
This was Marian's first tale about the Walsh family and as with all of them it has a wonderful mix of tears and laughter. Claire our heroine starts out as a victim, and you'll be cheering her on as she struggles to cope with a new baby, a slightly eccentric family, and her own low self esteem.

The woman is a genius
This is my forth MK book, and my second Walsh sisters one, and like the others I loved it. The characters are so well written, and funny, the mum is fabulous and def my favourite character. Was so pleased with the outcome of the story and had to stop myself turning back to the beginning and starting it again. Will be reading Angels next I think, I doubt I will be disappointed with that either.

Brilliant
One of her best. really really good. definitly a must read - you'l not be disappointed.