Product Description

Irresistible, life-affirming, uplifting, compulsive reading. Tara, Katherine and Fintan. Best friends since they were teenagers in Knockavoy, County Clare in the days of legwarmers, pink stretch jeans and Duran Duran. Now in their early thirties,they live in London where they are still bound together. But so far only Fintan has managed to find true love. Tara is on a permanent diet and stuck in a dead-end relationship. Katherine lives in ordered calm with her matching bra and knicker sets.Both of them propping up the bar in the Last Chance Saloon. But when you're not up for change yourself, life sometimes has a way of making changes for you. And fate is about to step in to alter all their lives in wholly unexpected ways ...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6459 in Books
• Published on: 2005-07-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 608 pages

Amazon.co.uk Review
Author of the hugely popular Rachel's Holiday and Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Marian Keyes is back swinging the doors of heartache and hilarity with Last Chance Saloon. Meet Tara, the rapidly expanding food-loving shopaholic; Katherine, the neat, male-ego-destroying singleton; Fintan, the fashion-conscious lovely, and Lorcan, the gorgeous but rotten redheaded womaniser. Marian Keyes deliberately deploys stereotypical characters and situations, then attempts to subvert the stereotypes, though perhaps in rather obvious ways. Throughout, Tara bores us with her lament that she is at the last chance saloon, meaning that if she ends her current relationship at 31, she's on the shelf for life. "For the first time Tara visualised it and she contracted with fear. It was like being told to jump off a cliff ... 'But what would become of me without Thomas? I'd never get anyone else and I hate not having a man. And it's not something I'm proud of' she added quickly. 'I'm going to puke', Fintan interrupted, urgently." Those who can resist the urge to follow Fintan's lead on the umpteenth rendition of this particular complaint will enjoy the book. It's addictive--reading The Last Chance Saloon is like watching the omnibus edition of Sunset Beach; you know the acting is awful and the same scenes keep on repeating themselves but you can't help being hooked and feeling sated afterwards. At almost 600 pages, settle down for a Saturday afternoon and don't expect to be getting up again until Sunday. --Nicola Perry

Review
From the author of the bestselling Rachel's Holiday, this book is a monster of laugh from page one. Take three friends from Knockavoy, County Clare: food-obsessed Tara, meticulous Katherine and club-crazy Fintan. Speed them through to the age of 31 and life in Camden Town, London. Add Liv, the Amazon-like Swede, and Sandro, Fintan's little Latin lover, then throw in Joe and Lorcan and you have a recipe for mayhem. This is the world of the LCT - the Last Chance Trendy. A hot-headed, warm-hearted read, awash with humour and pathos, the value of friendship and the desire to find true love in the shadow of the millennium. (Kirkus UK)

In the "Bridget Jones "tradition, young singles in London conquer self-esteem problems before finding true love: a witty if predictable fourth novel from Keyes ("Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married", 1999 etc.). Katherine, Tara, and Fintan moved to London together from their small Irish hometown and have remained best friends into their early '30s, even though they seem to have little in common. Overly self-controlled Katherine comes across as an Ice Queen. In fact, that's her less-than-flattering nickname at the advertising firm where she is an accountant. When a fellow worker gently flirts with her, Katherine is so afraid of her own feelings that she accuses him of sexual harassment. Tara is Katherine's opposite: desperate for affection, she clings to her boyfriend Thomas despite his consistently rude and unpleasant behavior. Softhearted Tara also eats compulsively. (Keyes perfectly captures the overweight overeater's mindset.) Only Fintan, who is gay and in the fashion industry, natch, has found happiness and true love with Sandro, "the Italian Pony" (he's too small to be a stallion). Then Fintan becomes seriously ill. It's not AIDS, but with a cancer that requires intensive chemotherapy. Fintan's mother and brothers arrive from Ireland and stay in Katherine's apartment, disrupting her perfect order, while Thomas refuses even to accompany Tara to the hospital. Possibly near death's door, Fintan exacts promises from his friends to bring some happiness into their lives. He wants Tara to dump the awful Thomas and Katherine to take a chance with her office suitor, the charming and genuinely nice Joe Roth. Meanwhile, their very sophisticated Swedish friend Liv falls madly in love with Fintan's very unsophisticated older brother Milo, a farmer who has never seen an escalator until now. Will Tara leave Thomas and get back to a size eight? Will Katherine cheat herself out of her big chance for romantic happiness? Will Fintan recover? Will Milo move back to the farm? No surprises, but a pleasant read. (Kirkus Reviews)

About the Author
MARIAN KEYES is the author of four much-loved bestsellers: WATERMELON, LUCY SULLIVAN IS GETTING MARRIED, RACHEL'S HOLIDAY, and LAST CHANCE SALOON, which was published in trade paperback in October 1999. She lives in Dublin.