Synopsis:
On the day she gives birth to her first child, Claire Walsh's husband James tells her he's been having an affair and now's the right time to leave her.
Right for who exactly? Exhausted, tearful and a tiny bit furious, Claire can't think of what to do. So she follows the instincts of all self-respecting adults in tricky situations.
. . . And runs home to Mum and Dad.
But while her parents are sympathetic, Claire's younger sisters are less so. Helen wants to share the new toy (she means baby Kate). While Anna is too busy having out-of her-head experiences.
So when James slips back into her life, desperate to put things right, Claire doesn't know whether to take a chance on a past she feared she'd lost forever or face an uncertain future of her own.
But is she as on her own as she really believes?
I admit I have only read a couple of books by Marian Keyes, one of which is the fourth book from the Walsh family series (Anybody out there) After seeing Marian at a book signing, the Walsh family were spoken of a lot and I felt like I had missed out on some fantastic stories. So I got straight down to my local library (libraries by the way are the best places!) decided it was about time I started back at the beginning and read Marian’s debut novel, which is the first book in the Walsh family.
I love that the first chapter takes you straight into the story, Claire minutes after giving birth is content and full of happiness, a loving relationship with a great husband, perfect home, good job and her first baby a beautiful daughter. Can it get any better than this… Of course not, it’s all downhill from now on. As her husband James suddenly announces in the hospital that he no longer loves her and that his been having an affair! I can now confirm James is the worst!
Poor Claire… with her marriage in tatters, a newborn baby and a body that she doesn’t recognize as her own she catches the next flight back home to Dublin to her dysfunctional family. Here we are first introduced to the Walsh family! What a family they are!
I read some reviews before starting where people have remarked on Marian’s ramblings throughout the book but I really liked this, I liked reading Claire’s inner thoughts and musings and getting an insight into each character of the family and stories from their childhood. It always helps me to set the scene and picture it! But I know that’s not everyone’s cup of tea!
Back in Dublin, Claire takes refuge to her bed to recoup only to fend for her baby daughter, here we witness Claire at her lowest, going through what you can only describe as mourning, and the stages from sadness to anger.
Thankfully Claire pulls through and takes back control of her life, no longer feeling worthless and knowing she and her daughter deserve better than James.
Here she meets Adam, a friend of her sister Helen; Adam is younger, shy and very very cute! Adam takes an interest in Claire and they hit it off from their first meet. After bumping into each other away from her family you could clearly see an interest for them both. I felt that the attention from Adam was exactly what Claire needed to give her the confidence and the boost to feel like her again.
I guess I should speak about James at some point…! We hate him by the way, what a horrible man… I won’t spoil for you with what happens between Claire and James, as you know from the synopsis James does return to Claire most probably realizing that the grass isn’t always greener. Few scenes when he returned made me angry which shows how well Marian writes her characters, James was written very cleverly the way he could change Claire’s confidence in herself. Anyway enough about James!
I liked the ending of this story, it wasn’t exactly how I imagined it planning out, the story is a little predictable so the end part did throw me but that’s what’s great about Marian Keyes, she always does like to keep you on your toes.
Despite the sad storyline and the situation Claire was in, the story was full of humour and comical moments which I really enjoyed. I cannot wait to get started on reading the rest of the books from the Walsh family.
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