Product Description

'Everybody remembers where they were the day they heard that Paddy de Courcy was getting married'. Lola has every reason to be interested in who Paddy's marrying - because although she's his girlfriend, she definitely isn't the bride-to-be. Heartbroken, she flees the city for a cottage by the sea. But will Lola's retreat prove as idyllic as she hopes? Not if journalist Grace has anything to do with it. She wants the inside story on the de Courcy engagement and thinks Lola holds the key. Grace knew Paddy a long time ago. But why can't she forget him?Grace's sister, Marnie, might have the answer but she also has issues with the past. Her family is wonderful but they can't take away memories of her first love: a certain Paddy de Courcy. What will it take for Marnie to be able to move on? And what of the future Mrs de Courcy...Alicia is determined to be the perfect politician's wife. But does she know the real Paddy de Courcy? Four very different women. One awfully charming man. And the dark secret that binds them all...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #389 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 688 pages

Review
Four Dubliners regret misguided liaisons with a sadistic Irish politico.Keyes (Anybody Out There, 2006, etc.) displays her trademark uncanny ability to wring humor from cliches in this story of four women whose paths cross with that of handsome Irish party hack Paddy de Courcy. Lola, whose narration hilariously parodies the article and pronoun-challenged diary of Bridget Jones, learns from the press that Paddy, her boyfriend, is engaged to Alicia, a horsey widow respectable enough to be a political helpmeet. Grace, a Dublin tabloid reporter, and her fraternal twin sister Marnie, met Paddy while all three were students working in a Dublin pub. Grace flirted briefly with Paddy before losing him to Marnie. But as his ambitions escalate, Paddy dumps Marnie, leaving her emotionally shell-shocked. Lola, fashion advisor to Dublin's nouveau riche matrons, had found Paddy's sexual proclivities increasingly problematic, but she's so unsettled by his summary betrayal that she flees to a rustic seaside cabin in County Clare, where she becomes reluctant housemother to a growing contingent of transvestites. A brief fling with a surfer helps her weather Paddy's rejection, but memories of how his kinky sexuality segued into "isolated" acts of physical abuse undermine her struggle to recover her sense of self-worth. Grace learns that Paddy may be behind the seemingly random torching of her sports car, but withholds her full history with him from the reader. She's more preoccupied with trying to keep Marnie, who until recently lived happily in London with her commodities trader husband Nick and two daughters, from drinking herself to death. The weight of attention devoted to Marnie's harrowing alcoholic free-fall deemphasizes and defuses the devastating impact of Paddy's horrendous behavior. The gradual reveal of Paddy's monstrosity toward the novels' women, interspersed with the flip entertainment of Lola's Bridget Jones-speak, generates a jarring unevenness of tone. Flabby, often implausible plot propelled by original prose. (Kirkus Reviews)

Synopsis
'Everybody remembers where they were the day they heard that Paddy de Courcy was getting married'. Lola has every reason to be interested in who Paddy's marrying - because although she's his girlfriend, she definitely isn't the bride-to-be. Heartbroken, she flees the city for a cottage by the sea. But will Lola's retreat prove as idyllic as she hopes? Not if journalist Grace has anything to do with it. She wants the inside story on the de Courcy engagement and thinks Lola holds the key. Grace knew Paddy a long time ago. But why can't she forget him?Grace's sister, Marnie, might have the answer but she also has issues with the past. Her family is wonderful but they can't take away memories of her first love: a certain Paddy de Courcy. What will it take for Marnie to be able to move on? And what of the future Mrs de Courcy...Alicia is determined to be the perfect politician's wife. But does she know the real Paddy de Courcy? Four very different women. One awfully charming man. And the dark secret that binds them all...

About the Author
Marian Keyes' international bestselling novels include Rachel's Holiday, Last Chance Saloon, Sushi for Beginners, Angels, The Other Side of the Story and most recently Anybody Out There, a number one bestseller. Two collections of her journalism, Under the Duvet and Further Under the Duvet, are also available from Penguin. Marian lives in Dublin with her husband.

Customer Reviews

not up to standard
I bought this as soon as it came out in hardback as I had enjoyed all the author's previous novels. However I found this book slow and heavy, half the time I wasn't sure who was 'talking' and I don't feel the characters were as crafted as I had come to expect from this author. I actually gave up about half way through the book as I had totally lost interest.

Keyes Gone Off the Boil
Good God, what has happened to Marian Keyes? Most of her novels were wonderful. Characters like you and me, making their way through rainy Mondays in a crap job, visiting their crazy family on weekends and wondering why the man you like never, ever likes you back. They were such a good laugh. But now she's trying to be a 'serious' writer and it doesn't work because she's just going for the shock factor. Anybody could write something disgusting about a man beating up or raping a woman. It requires no talent to write graphically. Subtlety is another matter. I bought this at a jumble sale for a dollar, and I'm going to throw it away. I also threw away her novel before this one, which was all about a newlywed whose husband had died in a car accident and the main protagonist had her fingernails ripped off. I too could make up improbable and disgusting injuries. Again, nothing talented about that. If she continues to write this pretentious crap littered with depressing and stomach-churning gore, I will certainly never bother with her books again. And it's only got a star because the system won't let me submit with no stars. Keyes, people pick up your books to be entertained, not totally depressed and frightened. Learn that.

Really depressing
I am a huge Marian Keyes fan but I am finding this book so depressing (am about half-way through) that I haven't been able to pick it up for about 2 weeks.
It is fair enough to deal with "gritty" subjects, but if I want to read a book like that I'll go and buy one. With Marian, you can normally rely on the storyline and topics, and you know what you're getting. With this one, you don't.
I actually like the Lola parts - they are the only funny bits I've found so far - it's the other parts I don't enjoy. It is also very long drawn-out and although I'm half-way through I am still not sure what the "secret" and the point of it is - either it is terrifically obvious and I have already guessed it, or it is something very unexpected and I have to wait till the last chapter, which I just find annoying.
I've found myself skipping entire pages and leafing through to the end to see if it's worth reading on.
It's a shame because it is a big fat book, and if I was enjoying it, I'd be delighted to have so much MK in one go!