marian keyes

Hear from Me!

Marian Keyes
  • Home
  • Marian
  • Books
  • News
  • Events
  • Videos

Hear from Me!

  • Home
  • Marian
  • Books
  • News
  • Events
  • Videos

Discover Marian's books

The Break by Marian Keyes
Under the Duvet Deluxe by Marian Keyes
Making It Up As I Go Along by Marian Keyes
The Woman Who Stolen My Life by Marian Keyes
The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes
Mammy Walsh's A-Z of the Walsh Family: An e-book Short by Marian Keyes
Saved by Cake by Marian Keyes
Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes
Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes
The Other Side of the Story by Marian Keyes
This Charming Man by Marian Keyes
Angels by Marian Keyes
Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes
Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes
Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes

Walsh family books

The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes
Mammy Walsh's A-Z of the Walsh Family: An e-book Short by Marian Keyes
Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes
Angels by Marian Keyes
Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes

Marian's latest book

The Break by Marian Keyes

‘Myself and Hugh . . . We’re taking a break.’

‘A city-with-fancy-food sort of break?’

If only.

Spotlight

The Break by Marian Keyes

'Myself and Hugh . . . We're taking a break.' 'A city-with-fancy-food sort of break?' If only.

Discover Marian’s books

  • Marian's books
  • Walsh family
  • Spotlight
  • Marian's latest book
The Break by Marian Keyes

The Break

‘Myself and Hugh . . . We’re taking a break.’

‘A city-with-fancy-food sort of break?’

If only.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Under the Duvet Deluxe by Marian Keyes

Under the Duvet Deluxe

Sink beneath the covers and dip into the hilarious Under the Duvet: Deluxe Edition for a behind-the-scenes glimpse into Marian Keyes’ life . . .

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Making It Up As I Go Along by Marian Keyes

Making It Up As I Go Along

Laugh your socks off with this hilarious collection of tales, observations and flights of fancy from the funniest woman in print, bestselling author Marian Keyes.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
The Woman Who Stolen My Life by Marian Keyes

The Woman Who Stole My Life

Ever wish you could trade your life in for a better one?

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes

The Mystery of Mercy Close

Hilarious, witty and brutally honest, The Mystery of Mercy Close is the fifth novel in the Walsh Sisters series.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Mammy Walsh's A-Z of the Walsh Family: An e-book Short by Marian Keyes

Mammy Walsh’s A-Z of the Walsh Family: An e-book Short

Mammy Walsh’s A-Z of the Walshes is a laugh-out-loud ebook-only short guide to everyone’s favourite dysfunctional Irish family.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Saved by Cake by Marian Keyes

Saved by Cake

Learn to bake with Britain’s favourite women’s fiction author Marian Keyes, in her startlingly honest cook-book Saved by Cake.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Brightest Star in the Sky by Marian Keyes

The Brightest Star in the Sky

The Brightest Star in the Sky is a moving exploration of modern love and the secrets we keep to survive.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes

Anybody Out There

‘I’d lost my place in the universe. It had closed up and there was nowhere for me to be. I was more lost than I had known it was possible for any human being to be . . .’

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
The Other Side of the Story by Marian Keyes

The Other Side of the Story

The Other Side of the Story is an exploration of modern love, rivalry and the complexities of friendship.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
This Charming Man by Marian Keyes

This Charming Man

Four very different women, one awfully charming man and a secret that binds them all.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Angels by Marian Keyes

Angels

Witty and poignant, Angels is the third novel in the Walsh Sisters series by bestselling author Marian Keyes.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes

Sushi for Beginners

Sushi for Beginners explores life’s quirks and idiosyncrasies with unrivalled humour and sensitivity.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Last Chance Saloon by Marian Keyes

Last Chance Saloon

‘Love is blind, there was no doubt about it. In Tara’s case it was also deaf, dumb, dyslexic, had a bad hip and the beginnings of Alzheimer’s . . .’

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes

Rachel’s Holiday

‘How did it end up like this? Twenty-seven, unemployed, mistaken for a drug addict, in a treatment centre in the back arse of nowhere with an empty Valium bottle in my knickers . . .’

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon

Lucy Sullivan Is Getting Married

Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married is Marian Keyes’ second fantastically funny and oh-so-loveable novel . . .

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon

Watermelon

Failed relationships can be described as so much wasted makeup . . .

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
The Mystery of Mercy Close by Marian Keyes

The Mystery of Mercy Close

Hilarious, witty and brutally honest, The Mystery of Mercy Close is the fifth novel in the Walsh Sisters series.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Mammy Walsh's A-Z of the Walsh Family: An e-book Short by Marian Keyes

Mammy Walsh’s A-Z of the Walsh Family: An e-book Short

Mammy Walsh’s A-Z of the Walshes is a laugh-out-loud ebook-only short guide to everyone’s favourite dysfunctional Irish family.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Anybody Out There by Marian Keyes

Anybody Out There

‘I’d lost my place in the universe. It had closed up and there was nowhere for me to be. I was more lost than I had known it was possible for any human being to be . . .’

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Angels by Marian Keyes

Angels

Witty and poignant, Angels is the third novel in the Walsh Sisters series by bestselling author Marian Keyes.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
Rachel's Holiday by Marian Keyes

Rachel’s Holiday

‘How did it end up like this? Twenty-seven, unemployed, mistaken for a drug addict, in a treatment centre in the back arse of nowhere with an empty Valium bottle in my knickers . . .’

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon

Watermelon

Failed relationships can be described as so much wasted makeup . . .

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
The Break by Marian Keyes

The Break

'Myself and Hugh . . . We're taking a break.' 'A city-with-fancy-food sort of break?' If only.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon
The Break by Marian Keyes

The Break

‘Myself and Hugh . . . We’re taking a break.’

‘A city-with-fancy-food sort of break?’

If only.

  • Waterstones
  • Amazon

Penguin Books Limited

A Penguin Random House Company

Penguin Privacy Policy | Terms of Service | Cookie Policy

©1995 - 2019 Penguin Books Ltd. Registered number: 861590 England.

Registered office: 20 Vauxhall Bridge Road, London, SW1V 2SA UK.


We use cookies on this site and by continuing to browse it you agree to us sending you cookies. For more on our cookies and changing your settings click here.


Accept
Cookie Policy

Necessary Always Enabled

Non-necessary

Want to keep up with the latest news from Marian herself?

By clicking SUBSCRIBE, I consent to you using my details to send me Marian Keyes newsletters and confirm that I have read and understood Penguin Random House's Privacy Policy.

Copyrighted Material

Marian Keyes

The Break

1

Friday, 9 September

‘Myself and Hugh,’ I say. ‘We’re taking a break.’

‘A city-with-fancy-food sort of a break?’ Maura narrows her eyes. ‘Or a Rihanna sort of a break? Well?’ She presses her case. ‘Is it the city-with-fancy-food break?’

‘No, it’s –’

‘The Rihanna kind? You’ve got to be joking me, because Rihanna is – what? – twenty-two and you’re –’

‘Not twenty-two.’ It’s imperative to shut her down before she utters my age. I don’t know how I got to be forty-four. Clearly I’d my eye off the ball but, a bit late to the party, I’m trying to airbrush away all references to it. It’s not just the fear-of-dying and, worse, the fear-of-becoming-jowly, it’s because I work in PR, a dynamic, youthful sector, which does not value the ‘less-young’ among us. I’ve bills to pay, I’m simply being practical here.

So I avoid any stating of my age, like, ever, in the hope that if no one says it, no one will know about it and I can stay age- free until the end of time. (My one regret is that I didn’t adopt this attitude when I was twenty-seven, but I knew nothing when I was twenty-seven.)

‘I’m your sister,’ Maura says. ‘I’m seven years older than you, so if I’m fifty-one –’

‘Of course,’ I say very, very quickly, talking over her, to shut her up. ‘Of course, of course, of course.’ Maura has never worried about getting old. For as long as I can remember she’s been ancient, more like Pop’s twin brother than his eldest child.

‘So it’s a “break” where Hugh can go off – where?’

‘South East Asia.’

‘Seriously? And then . . . what?’

‘He’ll come back.’

‘What if he doesn’t?’

It was the worst idea ever to admit my news to Maura, but she has a knack for getting the truth out of people. (We call her the Waterboarder.) She can always smell a story. She’s known something’s been up with me for the past five days – I thought I’d be okay if I kept ducking her calls but clearly I have a strong delusional streak because it was only a matter of time before she showed up at my work and refused to leave until she knew everything.

‘Look, nothing is definite,’ I try. ‘He might not go.’ Because he might not.

‘You can’t let him,’ she announces. ‘Just tell him he can’t and let that be an end to it.’

If only it was that simple. She hadn’t read Hugh’s letter so she didn’t know the torment he was in. Letting him leave was my best chance of saving my marriage. Probably.

‘Is it to do with his dad dying?’

I nod. Hugh’s dad died eight months ago, and Hugh had shut down. ‘I thought that if enough time passed he’d be okay.’

‘But he isn’t. He’s the opposite of okay.’ She’s getting worked up. ‘This effing family. When will the drama stop? It’s like playing Whac-A-Mole.’ Maura’s rages are familiar and they no longer have the power to utterly terrify me. ‘No sooner is one of you toeing the line than another of you blows your life up. Why are you all such disasters?’ She means me and my siblings and, actually, we aren’t. Well, no more than any other family, which is to say, quite a lot, but so is everyone else’s, so we’re fairly normal, really.

‘It must be my fault,’ she declares. ‘Was I a bad role model?’

‘Yes.’

In actual fact she was the least bad role model that ever lived, but she’s upset me. Surely, all things considered, I’m deserving of sympathy.

‘You’re so cruel!’ she says. ‘You try being a little girl’ (she means herself) ‘whose mum is in hospital for months on end with tuberculosis at a time when tuberculosis wasn’t even a thing, when it was years out of date. A little girl who has four younger brothers and sisters, who won’t stop crying, and a big, cold house, which is falling to bits, and a dad who can’t cope. Yes, I have an over-developed sense of responsibility but . . .’

I know the speech and could do a word-perfect recitation, but closing her down when she’s in full flow is next to impossible. (My siblings and I like to joke that her husband TPB – The Poor Bastard – developed spontaneous mutism shortly after their wedding and that no one has heard him speak for the past twenty-one years. We insist that the last words he’d ever been heard saying – in tones of great doubt – were ‘I do . . . ?’)

‘What’s going on?’ I ask, baffled by her antipathy. ‘I haven’t done anything wrong.’

‘Yet,’ she says. ‘Yet!’ ‘What are you saying?’

She seems surprised. ‘If your husband is “on a break” from your marriage’ – she does the quotation marks with her fingers – ‘then aren’t you’ – more quotation marks – ‘“on a break” too?’

It takes a few moments for her words to sink in. Then, to my great surprise, something stirs in me, something hopeful that, after the last five horrible days, feels like the sweetest relief. In a small recess of my soul a tiny pilot light sparks into life.

Slowly, I say, ‘Seeing as you put it like that, well, I suppose I am.’