Just finished reading a really great book

One of my favourite modern chick-lit authors is Marian Keyes. She writes such great, endearing stories, that are full of great characters and her stories are so easy to read - they are really "un-put-downable" books. I really get into the storyline and characters and miss them when I finish reading them.

I have read every single one of her novels and have them all, but one in my collection of books (I love to read and I really love lots of different genres). The one I didn't have, I borrowed from a friend - "The Brightest Star in The Sky" - such a beautiful, whimsical story, so lovely and sweet, almost magical really. It was so nice to read and I finished all 612 pages in about two days!  I will buy it one day soon.

While this novel was rather whimsical, there were some really dark, poignant moments in there too, which were a bit hard to read (for me), but she covered them really well.

Reading her novels it made me think that she covers certain subjects so well, that maybe it was because she experienced them herself. Just a feeling I got after reading the novel before this one - This Charming Man - about a very handsome and charming man who was actually abusive. She has also written about alcohol abuse (Rachel's Holiday) and depression (Anybody Out There) and again, it struck me that the way she wrote about the character's experiences with these seemed to come from personal and intimate experience.  I found out recently that I was right about my hunch. On her web site Marian Keyes talks about her experience with alcoholism, depression and men who didn't treat her well.

The last time I checked Marian Keyes' site, which was in January 2010, she was greatly afflicted with depression to a debilitating level. I wonder if writing about rape, depression and children in her current book (The Brightest Star in The Sky) may have sent her over the edge into the pits of depression. She and her husband have tried to have children and have not been able to conceive, she has been depressed in the past and is currently experiencing it and about the rape, maybe she experienced that too. I just thought that maybe writing about all of these personal experiences into her characters, instead of being cathartic, was maybe too much for her to deal with, so her mind spiralled downward into feeling depressed. Her depression started some time after the book was released, so it may have taken a bit of time to get to the depressed state. 

Poor thing, I hope she gets better. She writes the most wonderful books. I love her chatty, engaging writing style.