Last chance for love
"I become very fond of my characters," said Marian Keyes, the author of 'Last Chance Saloon.' "I find I initially dislike the characters in the new novel I am writing because I feel like I am being disloyal to my old characters."
Keyes is a Dublin author whose five best-selling novels, including 'Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married' and 'Watermelon,' have sold five million copies in 35 countries. William Morrow, her American publisher, is rolling out a major publicity campaign, including Keyes' first two-week book tour across the country, to make her a star in the United States.
Irish immigrant women are one of the primary concerns of her writing, be they in New York or London. In 'Last Chance Saloon,' Keyes writes about Tara, who can't live without having a boyfriend, Katherine, who can't stay in relationships due to a previous heartbreak, and Fintan, who has found love but is facing a brutal battle with cancer. Because of her well-drawn sympathetic characters, Keyes had been compared to a younger Maeve Binchy.
"I've written about serious issues in all my novels, from abandonment to drug addiction," says Keyes, from her home in Dun Laoghaire. "I was going to take a break with 'Last Chance Saloon,' writing about three Irish friends looking for love in London, but I realized halfway through that this idea alone was not enough. Then I started writing about the serious illness of Fintan, and that really interested me."
In all her novels, Keyes deftly mixed characters' problems with social satire. "I write comedy that springs from serious issues," said Keyes. "I find that the best comedy is rooted in darkness. I also want to convey to the reader that we are lucky to be alive, and this comes from my own personal experience."
Keyes grew up in Cork, Galway and Dublin. After obtaining a law degree at University College Dublin, she couldn't find a job and emigrated to London. She worked as a waitress, then wound up at an accounting job at a college.
"I had a lively social life in my twenties," said the 37-year-old Keyes, "But when everyone else dealt with their drinking, mine got worse. I was suffering from low self-esteem and depression." At one point, Keyes actually tried to commit suicide. She went back to Ireland at age 30 to dry out.
Several months before Keyes became sober, she had started writing, first with short stories, then the novel 'Watermelon', which was published in 1994. Keyes quit her accounting job in 1996, and became a full-time writer.
"People often ask me if the writing replaced the drinking," she said. "Well, it didn't. When I was drinking, I was very unproductive and isolated. With the writing I take it seriously and it is very hard work. I could not have written novels if I was still drinking."
For Keyes, writing her characters comes from observing numerous people. "I am fascinated by human beings and what makes us unique," she said. "I take notes on people's differences, so that I have a 'database' of characters, experiences and attitudes. My characters start as an amalgam of different people, but then transcend their parts."
In writing her recent novel, Keyes used her own nine-year experience of living in London. "In 1986, I was s 22-year-old who knew nothing of the world. I was very excited to go to London. Dublin felt too small. I liked the anonymity of London, the feeling that you could break the rules and no one would know."
After years in London, Keyes said she felt "the dilemma of being a small-town girl, with a veneer of sophistication." To develop her small-town characters in 'Last Chance Saloon,' Keyes invented the fictional Knockavoy, Co. Clare, which she created from the small Clare towns of her childhood summer holidays.
In 1997, Keyes moved back to Dublin. "I moved back because I wanted people knowing me, I did not want the anonymity anymore." The most important thing Keyes brought back was her English husband Tony.
"He was already pro-Irish," explained Keyes. "Tony had read Irish novels and listened to Christy Moore. What is great is that I can now see Ireland through Tony's eyes."
Keyes believes the chord she strikes with her readers is related to her characters, like Tara and Katherine. "I create very humane characters, flawed in recognizable ways. My goal is to entertain my readers, to make them laugh, to make them think, to explore the emotional landscape in ourselves. My books are journeys, moving from co-existing with the damaged bits, where dysfunctional behaviour can become functional."
Keyes next novel is titled 'Angel,' and will be set in Los Angeles. "It is the story of five sisters in Dublin, where the best-behaved sister leaves her husband and runs away to Los Angeles at aged 33, kind of a rebellion seventeen years late," she said.
"I went to Los Angeles a few years ago, when Disney optioned my book," said Keyes. "There was a lot I liked about it - it was a beautiful city, but the value system is so corrupt. Is that a judgmental thing to say?" she asked, with a wicked laugh. "Los Angeles has the whole New Age-y thing going, the quick fixes, the cures."
"I guess I always write about Irish characters," said Keyes. "People have called me a feel-good author, but that is not what I set out to do. I know that books with downbeat endings get better reviews, but I can't leave my characters in a bad place."
"After six weeks in rehab, I finally got clarity, and saw how shocking my behaviour had been. I see how lucky I was and this gratitude pervades my writing."