Evening Herald
Yikes, not more chick-lit! Well, you could be forgiven for thinking that once you cop Under the Duvet's pink jacket and see the book involves "High heels, movie deals, wagon wheels, shoes, reviews, having the blues, builders, babies, families and other calamities."
But you'd be wrong.
While the opening consists of "Himself likes football. That's because he's a man. I don't like football. That's because I'm a woman. Although I pretend I like it. That's because I'm a modern woman."
"I hate jazz and make no bones about it. What's wrong with a rhythm? I want something I can tap my foot to without seeming as if I'm trying to send a message in Morse code"
Oh, what's it about then?
Under the Duvet is a collection of Marian's journalism and features some
previously unpublished material.
I know women buy her books by the bucketload but is there anything here
which might even vaguely interest the other half of the population?
Yes actually. Her writing skips along and she has a nice way with witty
one-liners.
Such as?
There are several in a piece called "Himself is a Hooligan" in
which she talks about her partner's devotion to Watford FC and his interest
in jazz.
But won't the fact that most of these pieces have appeared before affect
the book's sales?
Most of them appeared in Irish Tatler, so that won't be a problem.
Is there any particular reason for bringing this out?
The material itself should be reason enough but, tucked away on page 271
is a piece about the work of the Simon Community in which we discover that
all royalties from Under the Duvet will go to them. And that's the only
mention of it in either the book or the accompanying promotional material.
So you'd recommend this?
Absolutely. A good book and a good cause to boot.