The Woman Who Stole My Life: British Book Awards Author of the Year 2022

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If you could play editor, what scene or scenes would you have cut from The Woman Who Stole My Life? A funny new novel from international bestselling author Marian Keyes about Irish beautician Stella Sweeney who falls ill, falls in love, then falls into a glamorous new life in New York City. When her dream life is threatened, will she rally to reclaim love and happiness?

No, bad idea to mention the skintness, I’d better take that out . . . I hit the delete key until all mention of money has disappeared, then start typing again.But in this event is born the seed of something which will take Stella thousands of miles from her old life, turning an ordinary woman into a superstar, wrenching her whole family apart. For the first time real, honest-to-goodness happiness is just within her reach. I liked the intrinsic love story and the tale of Stella's rise and fall. The thing I liked least was the way that almost everybody treated Stella with contempt, especially her appalling (ex) husband Ryan and her precious spoilt son, Jeffrey. Actually, most people seemed to put her down and blame her personally for getting ill - what on earth? The basic story was intriguing. The structure was clever, leading me to persevere because I wanted to know how the story had arrived at the scenario at the beginning. But it was twice as long as it needed to be. There was far too much detailed narrative, so that it became tedious. The worst parts were the repeated and utterly superfluous detailed sex scenes. Sometimes less is more. The Woman Who Stole My Life has you hanging on every word. It has you holding your breath in anxiety. It has you making up your own little scenarios and fixating on little clues about what has happened to Stella that is so bad that she's had to leave a glamorous and fantastic life as an author in New York. For the first time real, honest-to-goodness happiness is just within her reach. But is Stella Sweeney, Dublin housewife, ready to grasp it?

In the end I grew to find her so annoying and the supporting characters made of cardboard. I was so disappointed. I had expected some cheer and got a lesson on sex with lessons I had never even thought of. That was a real eye opener. I had no idea the Irish were that randy (just kidding). When the result is a terrible car accident, she meets a handsome stranger with a Range Rover who wants her number - no, for insurance purposes - and in this meeting a seed is born which will change Stella's life forever. Inspired by my new wisdom, I’m trying to write a new book. I’ve no idea what it’s about but I’m hoping if I throw enough words onto a screen, I’ll be able to cobble something together. Something even more inspirational than One Blink at a Time! This bring me to Mannix. The new man who starts off as a knight in shining armor and re-appears, suddenly single, available and hankering after Stella. Not at all put off by her atrocious children and ex, he obviously sees something in Stella that I never spotted and, from here on in, the book sunk. Probably in a soapy romcommy way. To play Stella I'd plump for Rosamund Pike (assuming that she can do a convincing Irish accent) and perhaps a cleaned up Colin Farrell for Mannox?

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Keyes has evidently become one of those authors whose selling point is her name, not her talent. Her previous readers will continue to read her work, as I have done until now, and that's what her publisher must be banking on. Her strength is no longer in her storytelling.