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Where to start reading Marian Keyes’ books

Where to start reading Marian Keyes’ books

by Amy Jones and Lois Neville

min read

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One of the most successful Irish authors of all time and queen of contemporary fiction, Marian Keyes is a force to be reckoned with. She’s written 15 novels, published three collections of her journalism, written a cookbook, and won the Irish Book Awards – twice.

Her books are almost universally about people you want to be friends with. Even as they go through incredibly difficult things, they’re wry, bright, and you can’t help but cheer for them. Her novels also tackle more serious topics. It's not often you’d describe a book about going to rehab, the death of your husband or living with debilitating depression as "heartwarming", but Keyes manages it again and again.

This combination of heft and heart has made her one of the most beloved and popular authors writing today. Her latest novel, My Favourite Mistake, takes us back into the world of the Walsh sisters, as Anna trades her glamorous life in Manhattan for a small Irish town, where she hopes to start again.

If you’re new to Marian Keyes, you might be feeling a little overwhelmed as to where to begin; with intriguing titles and tempting blurbs, it’s easy to get decision paralysis. To help you on your reading journey, we’ve put together the below Marian Keyes reading guide for beginners. Read on for our recommendations on where to start with Marian Keyes’ books and the order to read them in to get the most out of your experience.

What Marian Keyes book should I start with?

Watermelon (1995)

We start at the beginning, with the first novel Keyes ever wrote – which is, in our opinion, the best place to start. Filled with both hope and heartbreak, Watermelon is not only a great introduction to the Walsh family but to Keyes’s warm and witty writing style.

The story follows Claire Walsh, whose husband James leaves her for another woman the day she gives birth. Claire is forced to move back in with her parents while she works out what to do next, how to look after a baby, and what she should do when James comes back into her life.

Watermelon is the first book in a series of novels about each Walsh sister – and they’re all a delight. Seeing the sisters through each other’s eyes is oddly thrilling, and the Walsh family are so beloved that they inspired a recent six-part TV adaptation on RTE.

What’s Marian Keyes' most popular book?

Rachel's Holiday (1997)

Frequently noted as one of Keyes’ best-selling and most beloved stories, Rachel’s Holiday is classic Keyes through and through, presenting deceptively heavy issues beneath an irresistibly humorous gloss. A fantastic book to read after Watermelon, Rachel’s Holiday returns to the loveable and chaotic Walsh family and fleshes out their lives even further.

Rachel Walsh has a jet-set lifestyle that seems aspirational, including glamorous New York parties and a boyfriend who loves her. But when her sister sends her to rehab, the fact that Rachel views it as a holiday suggests there are deeper issues at play… Keyes drew on her own experience of alcohol addiction and rehabilitation to write this much-loved novel, imbuing it with a humanity (and humour) that has come to define her work.

The best Marian Keyes books to read next

Again, Rachel (2022)

We guarantee that after reading Rachel's Holiday, you'll be desperate to find out what happens next – which is why we recommend reading the sequel, Again, Rachel. We meet our lovable, troubled heroine Rachel 25 years after the first book, and she now leads a stable life, with a good marriage and a rewarding job. But all of that is threatened by the return of Luke, the man who sent her spiralling all those years ago.

An exploration of life-long recovery, Again, Rachel is a more-than-worthy follow-up to Rachel’s Holiday. Older, a little bit wiser, but with grief and unresolved feelings bubbling to the surface, we see Rachel navigate complicated feelings all through Keyes’ trademark tenderness and humour.

My Favourite Mistake (2024)

Marian Keyes’ latest novel, My Favourite Mistake, is a fantastic book to pick up once you’re already familiar with some of Keyes' most popular works (and the corresponding members of the Walsh family).

Heart-warming and heart-breaking in equal measure, My Favourite Mistake focuses on Anna Walsh, who had a turbulent time in her twenties and thirties (see: Anybody Out There) but has since turned her life around. She lives in New York with her long-term partner and has an impossibly glamorous job in beauty PR. Cue a minor midlife crisis, which sees her quitting her job and trading Manhattan for the tiny Irish village of Maumtully (population 1,217), where she plans to help her friends open a luxury retreat. The move is far from plain sailing – the locals are furious, for starters. And then there’s the arrival of her old flame, Joey Armstrong…

Sushi for Beginners (2000)

Next, we recommend taking a break from the Walsh family and reading something completely different. Sushi for Beginners features three intersecting stories about three women living and working in Dublin. It’s a great place to start when exploring Keyes’ other stories, as we get to meet three new characters at once.

Lisa is the deputy editor of a magazine in London, whose life is pulled from underneath her when she’s told to move to Dublin and launch a brand new women's magazine. Ashling is Lisa’s assistant – she’s super organised but completely neurotic. Clodgah is Ashling’s best friend and a stay-at-home mother whose life seems picture-perfect. Sushi for Beginners follows the three women in the months up to the magazine’s launch as they all try to figure out what’s missing in their apparently enviable lives.

So much of the humour in Keyes’s novels comes from the outrageous characters, but she’s adept at making you empathise with them even while you’re laughing, and this book is the perfect example.

Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married (1996)

After several books set in Ireland, it’s time for a quick stop in London with Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married. Titular Lucy visits a fortune-teller with her friends and is told there's marriage in her future. She’s initially dubious but when the predictions for her friends all start to come true, Lucy decides to take things a little more seriously and find her Mr Right. Cue plenty of dates, a string of disasters, a long list of potential husbands and a very gripping read. Keyes herself describes this as one of her favourites: “I wanted to write about a single girl in London who goes out with eejit after eejit, you know, because that was really the life I had led.”

Full of relatable messiness and plenty of heart, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married explores what it means to find yourself and develop a true sense of self-worth.

This Charming Man (2008)

Although all of Keyes’s books make for a powerful reading experience, This Charming Man has a certain severity, tackling subjects still reflected in today’s headlines. It is the story of a charismatic politician and the women he has abused.

Its frankness and unflinching look at domestic abuse is at times hard to read, but the kindness and compassion with which the book is written makes it truly special. Readers clearly agree: the Irish public voted for the novel to win the Popular Fiction Award at the 2009 Irish Book Awards.

Under the Duvet (2001)

Once you’ve had a flavour of Marian Keyes’ novels, you’ll probably be curious about the woman behind these incredible stories. If so, Under the Duvet is a good place to start. This collection of Keyes’ essays and journalism runs the gamut from light-hearted observations to deep, personal reflections.

Keyes’ 194,000 Instagram followers will attest to the fact that she is charming and compelling, whether she’s talking about feminism, Strictly Come Dancing, or what the weather is doing to next door’s bins, and Under The Duvet covers similar musings. Funny and poignant, it's a wonderful thing to dip in and out of when you need to escape reality for a while.

The Break (2017)

Having read about Keyes and her husband Tony, aka ‘Himself’, in Under the Duvet, you’ll be better placed to read The Break, a musing on long-term relationships. Amy and Hugh are in their 40s when Hugh declares he wants a six-month break from their marriage so that he can go around south-east Asia and possibly sleep with other women. The foundations that Amy has built her life on are thoroughly shaken, and the rest of the novel follows the crisis she has as a result.

A reflection on long-term love, life at the midlife point and the inherent messiness of existence, The Break is heartfelt and funny, as you’d expect from Keyes, but with a little more mileage in the tank. So many of Keyes’s books deal with young women and their lives because that’s where she was when she was writing them, but The Break feels like it's a novel that's growing up with her – and all the better for it.

Grown Ups (2020)

Grown Ups is about the three Casey brothers, their wives and their children, who all spend a lot of time together. On the surface, everything seems to be wonderful. But when Cara, one of the brothers’ wives, gets a concussion and starts spilling family secrets at a birthday party, everyone realises that their ideal family isn’t as perfect as they’d all been pretending.

Grown Ups combines all of the standout elements of Keyes’s books with her trademark lightness of touch and unwillingness to look away from the more unpleasant aspects of life. It marks a culmination of Keyes’s skill in balancing heartfelt storytelling with razor-sharp wit.

Frequently asked questions

What kind of books does Marian Keyes write?

Marian Keyes writes contemporary fiction that often focuses on the complications of the relationships we have in our lives – from familial to romantic, as well as on the relationships we have with ourselves. Although Keyes doesn’t shy away from heavy topics, such as grief, depression, abuse and addiction, her stories are known for their warmth, tenderness and humour. Expect to experience a full spectrum of emotions, so get the tissue box at the ready!

What are Marian Keyes Walsh's family books in order?

Marian Keyes’s popular Walsh family books were published in this order:

Watermelon (1995)

Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married (1996)

Rachel’s Holiday (1998)

Angels (1999)

Anybody Out There? (2006)

The Mystery of Mercy Close (2012)

Mammy Walsh's A-Z of the Walsh Family (2012)

Again, Rachel (2020)

My Favourite Mistake (2024)

What TV series is based on Marian Keyes' books?

A few of Marian Keyes’s books have been adapted to the small screen. These are:

Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married (1999) - ITV. This was adapted from the book of the same name.

The Walsh Sisters (2025) - RTÉ/BBC. This was adapted from several of the Walsh family books, including Rachel’s Holiday and Anybody Out There.

Grown Ups (upcoming) - Netflix. This will be adapted from the book of the same name, and it’s one to keep an eye out for!

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What’s Marian Keyes' most popular book?

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