“A young woman – messy, disorganised, but doing her best” is how one of Marion Keyes’s main characters is described – and that from the women herself.

But she omitted some other words – warm, vibrant, insecure at times, entertaining – and highly addictive.

This Limerick native is hard to pinpoint, but I eventually tracked her down to her Co. Dublin home.
Like her Lucy Sullivans and her Rachels, she too boasts energy and vitality and is still coming to terms with the fame she has been forced to accept since the phenomenal success of her first novel ‘Watermelon’.

It focused on the highs and lows experienced by a twenty-something girl experiencing an unplanned pregnancy.

Closely following with the hilarious ‘Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married’ and then ‘Rachel’s Holiday’, the thirty year old writer has the enviable ability to relate to the fears and dreams, hopes and desires of young ’nineties women and the hurdles they encounter.

Marion consciously chose to write “about women I could relate to”, having herself grown up on a diet of Deirdre Purcell’s and Jilly Cooper’s. Now considered in that same category, she remains very much in awe of her own achievements and perseveres for more.

Somehow, she manages to entrap the reader into empathy with her central characters – stories hilarious, poignant and deeply moving all at once, with a wonderful balance created to achieve the desired effect.

Currently resident in Dun Laoghaire with Tony, her husband of five years, Marion was actually born in Limerick and throughout her childhood, lived in Cork, Galway and Cavan.

She confesses to “always wanting to do something with words, but wasn’t very self aware…”
Marion remains at a loss as to where her love for writing actually originated but identifies her parents as very influential figures, paying particular credit to her mother, of whom she speaks in very affectionate terms.

Perhaps her own mother lacks the certain domineering and interfering characteristics of those mothers featured in her books!

“My mother is from Clare”, she says, “and a great storyteller, very funny and full of great sayings. My father was very disciplined and believed in hard work.”

Following a series of interviews and much public scrutiny, Marion remains understandably cautious when speaking of the story behind the plot in ‘Rachel’s Holiday’ and the theory that it may in some parts be autobiographical.

Forcing the reader to see addiction as it really is and inducing laughter as well as tears, she readily admits to drawing on some personal experiences to create the bond between reader and heroine, but feels the story has run it’s course and will only say it’s “no secret” that she herself encountered similar difficulties.

With visions of meeting her idols and mixing with celebs, while attempting to prove her sobriety to others, in all aspects of her life, Rachel is forced to confront some painful truths as her nearest and dearest tell it how it really is.

Left feeling betrayed and confused, she only survives through the affinity she feels with her group members, the unique support system only they can offer and ultimately her own courage and strength. Rachel rediscovers herself and slowly, painfully, learns to deal with reality.

While acknowledging that her own experiences of a treatment centre provided some fuel, she only “drew on bits and pieces and research used in the script. There the similarity ends and anyone I met or spent time with is protected.”

In no way does she feel that it was “a form of therapy” or “an attempt to exorcise my demons”, but a way in which to record and close that chapter in her life, while perhaps helping others in the same situations.

Already in the final stages of production is her fourth offering – ‘Last Chance Saloon’ which will focus on the lives and loves of three people from Clare who find their lives intertwined while sharing a flat in London.

Without giving too much away, she outlines the main storyline – one character experiencing a life threatening situation and the way in which this event challenges the reponses of all three.

“They’re all in their early thirties and are forced to face up to their own mortality – it’s a comedy about life.” The book is both touching and hilarious and, if possible, even better than the rest.
But is that a problem, the demand to make one book even greater than the last?

Marion giggles and readily agrees, confessing to real fears, especially with the distribution of her books across the water and the worry that writers and agents overseas might initiate changes in the language and dialogue. But this didn’t happen and, though not facing any negative pressure in this area, “expectations are high”.

The last few Christmases have been joyous occasions for the authoress and her close family. She has seen the fruits of her labour. They have seen a struggling writer capatapulated into fame, becoming one of Ireland’s finest.

Even her usual practice of spending alternate years in England, where her husband has family, has been somewhat affected with the actual surreal sensation of seeing her own books in all the main stores.

This year promises to be just as exciting and, while the rest of us await the presence of another addictive novel as a stocking filler, you could be forgiven for believing that for Marion Keyes, there really is a Santa Claus.