Book Review: The Woman Who Stole My Life, by Marian Keyes

The biggest-selling writer of popular women’s fiction tells a stunning tale of losing the life you had and finding a better one

Stella Sweeney is back in Dublin. After living the dream in New York for a year – touring her self-help book, appearing on talk shows all over the USA and living it up in her 10-room duplex on the Upper West Side – she’s back to normality with a bang. And she’s got writer’s block.

Stella wants a clean break as she didn’t exactly leave New York on a high. Why is she back in Ireland so soon? Who is it who keeps calling? Stella wants to get back to being the woman she used to be. But can she? And should she?

***

Thank you to Penguin Books for providing me with a review copy via NetGalley; I could not have been more excited to read this book.

So it’s the new Marian Keyes – practically enough said, right? I was thrilled when I saw this on NetGalley and ecstatic when my request was accepted. Obviously, I had high hopes. She’s a genius, right? But to be fair, books like this have the most potential to be disappointing. I mean, Marian’s books are so amazing, I’m sure I’m not the only one who sets an extremely high bar of expectation. But, my god, the woman just does it time and time and time again. The Woman Who Stole My Life was no exception.

This book is wonderful.

I loved the characters in this book. Well, I mean, I hated some of them – Stella’s ex-husband Ryan needed a good kick in the nasties, but man, I was connected! I adored Stella. She has a fantastic sarcastic wit, which had me giggling throughout the book. My heart ached with her frustration when her family didn’t have the patience to help her or connect with her, and I both jumped with joy at her triumphs and sank with sadness at her disappointments. Jeffrey, her quirky, grumpy, yoga-loving, health-freak son was another fantastic character, along with Stella’s father – just wait for the reading scenes, they’re simply hilarious!

The timeline zig-zags back and forth, which kept me eagerly turning the pages to get more of it, trying to work out the twists and discover the whole story, fitting all the pieces together.

This story gave me all the emotions I love from a book; it was tender, sweet, funny, aggravating, thought-provoking and inspiring. Another masterpiece from Marian Keyes.

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