Give yourself A BREAK
A FUNNY AND WISE LOOK AT FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS
On a sunny winter weekend, I was stuck in bed convalescing, but I had the latest Marian Keyes novel to keep me company, and there was something delicious about snuggling up and reading it from cover to cover.
Even when she’s not on form, this author writes fabulously entertaining women’s fiction. And with her new book, The Break, she’s definitely firing on all cylinders.
This is the story of a relationship, but of course it’s so much more. Amy has a demanding job, a chaotic Irish family and a happy marriage to Hugh. Except lately things haven’t been quite so happy.
Hugh has been struggling through some tough times and has announced he needs a break. He’s decided to run away from his and Amy’s life, abandon the kids and spend six months travelling alone through Southeast Asia. Oh, and he wants to be free to sleep with other women.
Amy is devastated and does a lot of online revenge shopping for vintage clothes. While she’s busy trying to hold herself and the family together, she meets a man and suddenly it seems like she might be having a break of her own. (Trigger warning: there are rude bits!)
You always get a good balance between dark and light in one of Marian’s novels, so while she deals with some heavier themes here – such as the law against abortion in Ireland that means women must travel overseas for a termination – she also has loads of fun.
It’s an unashamedly girly book, filled with clothes and make-up. It’s also brimming with wonderful characters, such as Amy’s elderly mother Lilian who becomes a star beauty vlogger, her spiky daughter Neve and the rest of her eccentric family. It’s a big, warm hug of a story and I was totally hooked.
Possibly it’s a bit on the long side, but still, I didn’t want The Break to end. And I really hope Marian Keyes returns to the O’Connell family in future books the way she has with the Walsh sisters of Angels and Watermelon fame.
For me, The Break was a shining light in an otherwise rubbish week. It’s a funny and wise look at human relationships. So when a friend asked me to recommend something to read while recuperating from surgery, I knew exactly what to give her.