An emotive treat from a household favourite

MY FAVOURITE MISTAKE by Marian Keyes

608pp, Michael Joseph, £18.99 (0808 196 6974), RRP£22, ebook £11.99

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We first met the Walshes, a boisterous Dublin-based family – mother, father, five squabbling sisters – in 1995, in Marian Keyes’s debut novel, Watermelon. That book centred on the oldest sibling, Claire, but each has since had their turn in the spotlight – not least the recovering alcoholic Rachel, a powerful avatar for the Irish author’s own battle with addiction.

The neat trick of this rotating group of protagonists is that every sister thinks the others have it sorted, while the reader knows that they’re all hiding a host of insecurities. The heroism of Keyes’s characters resides not in perfection, but in their ability to admit their failings and try again.

Keyes’s latest warmhearted and deftly plotted page-turner, My Favourite Mistake, rejoins the second-youngest Walsh, Anna. She decides to blow up her glossy New York life: quit her high-flying job in beauty PR, end her relationship, and move back to Ireland – to the dismay of her family, who liked the cosmetics freebies she sent over.

Anna comes to the aid of her friend Brigit, whose plans to set up a luxury wellness retreat in the (fictional) tiny coastal town of Maumtully are facing strong opposition. Rumours abound that this arrival won’t employ residents or benefit local businesses, but will block off the beach and disrupt neighbouring farms. When vandalisation of the site escalates to violent sabotage, Anna must root out the culprit.

There are two opportunities for us to play detective. As well as this gentrification plotline, we must puzzle out the complicated history between Anna and her cagey colleague Joey, and how that relates to her estrangement from childhood best-friend Jacqui. Keyes gives this friendship, and its traumatic loss, the same weight as any romantic entanglement.

Although she has written about everything from depression to abortion rights, Keyes seldom gets credit for tackling deeper issues; My Favourite Mistake contains a heartrending portrait of bereavement. But throughout, her idiosyncratic wit is a tonic. A touchy-feely man is labelled “a feathery stroker”, while the now ostentatiously wealthy Joey is mocked as “a go-boy”. And there’s also a celebration of kindness: that of family and friends, and of the community that takes Anna to its heart. That, I think, is why Keyes’s novels continue to be so loved.