Anna Walsh is broken and bruised, mentally and physically. She has returned home to Ireland. But what has happened to her, and where is her husband, Aidan?

Anyone who likes to be moved, both to tears and to laughter. Marian Keyes fans, fans of Irish authors.

Marian Keyes's narrative voice.

Read the new Anna Walsh book. But I'm waiting until after Game of Thrones, so I have the time to really indulge.

Sad. Happy. Hopeful. As though I could relate to the main character.

Marian Keyes. I love, love, love this woman. She is my favourite author. Her books are described as 'checklist with a gritty edge.' She writes about dark subjects, like grief, addiction, mental illness, domestic violence, and manages to move her readers at the same time as making them laugh.

It's really very good.

The SPOILERS are in here.

I actually read this in the first half of he month and forgot to write about it. So I'm sure I will forget she things. I haven't read anything since this, but I've passed my goal, so it's all good.

Firstly, I have to say that Marian Keyes is my favourite author. I've read everything of hers (except for the latest one which was only released this month. It is a sequel to this book, which is why I re-read it.

In Anybody Out There? we get to know Anna Walsh a little better. Anna is the fourth of five girls, and she comes from a gregarious and loving (though ever-so-slightly crazy) family in Ireland. Marian has written books about each sister, my favourite being 'Rachel's Holiday.'

We see Anna, broken, physically and mentally, at the beginning of the book. She is at home in Ireland with her mum and dad. She keeps mentioning her husband Aidan and saying she wants to go back to New York because that is where they live together. Now, the first time I read this book (back in 2007), I didn't see the huge plot twist coming. After speaking to my friends, I think I was the only person who didn't see it coming.

Aidan is dead. He and Anna were in a horrific car crash. Hence, Anna is really badly injured. For the first part of the novel, she doesn't remember that Aidan is dead. I kept wondering why they weren't together. I didn't get that he had died in the crash. I realised when Anna realised. Which came as huge shock to me, as it did to Anna.

Once she realises, and she starts to heal physically, she goes back to her apartment in New York and her job as a PR woman for a major cosmetics company. But she is lost without Aidan. Her grief is so well described by Marian Keyes. So freaking well described. When I first read this, my Dad had only just died. So I remember feeling quite emotionally drained during Anna's grieving process. This time around, I could read it with a more distanced viewpoint, and, while it was still hauntingly accurate, it didn't consume me quite as much.

So, Anna goes back to work. She finds a group meeting for those who want to contact the dead. She starts attending, desperate for Aidan to come through. He. doesn't. But she does, slowly, start to process her grief and accept what has happened.

Really, this book is a wonderful depiction of love, loss, and recovery. Anna is my favourite Walsh sister. I'm really looking forward to reading the new book about her, 'My Favourite Mistake.'

I adore Marian Keyes. She writes exactly how she sounds when interviewed. Her warmth and honesty, and ability to show the lighter side of darker moments, makes me happy whenever I read her.

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Created Apr 28, 2024 at 12:19pm • Submit your own review...