Cox & Cox chatted to Marian Keyes, the newly named Author of the Year for 2022 and author of Sunday Times Bestsellers Again, Rachel and Rachel’s Holiday, about the joys of escaping into a good book and her summer read recommendations for summer 2022.
“I was an anxious, lonely child, but when I read my first Enid Blyton book, The Twins at St Clare’s, my mind was blown. Suddenly, I had a gateway to another world – to infinite worlds. I was able to escape the discomfort of being me by immersing myself in the lives of others.
Since then, reading has been my saviour. No matter what was going on for me, books comforted me, befriended me, made me laugh, made me think, gave me a breathing space, and cocooned me from the world.”
“And there’s nothing better than sitting in the garden with a book, (unless you’re like me and would prefer to be sitting inside rather than out – preferably with a little summer drizzle for extra measure!) Whichever, what you always need for maximum reading joy is a comfy seat. A gorgeously soft blanket for when it gets cooler. And some twinkling lights to set it all off to perfection. Fabliss.”
It’s Amazing! It’s about one of these Instagram inspirational awful people who tells younger women how to live their lives and get what they want. Louise always writes about moral issues and how our own idea of morality changes according to who we like or what we like. It’s so great and such an interesting book about women, consent, and female friendship.
Oh my GOD, it's GORGEOUS.
Funny, warm, all about *people*.
This book comes with the same generosity of spirit Sara does.
You'll LOVE it!
This one tells the story of a woman who hasn’t left her house in several hundred days and she’s dealing with all this trauma, but still making friends from inside her home. It’s warm and it’s uplifting and sweet!
Wonderful. People Person is about five half-siblings (1 dad, 4 mothers) who, in response to a crisis, meet as adults and start shaping themselves into a family. It’s a warm novel, funny and full of emotional intelligence. The tone is light-hearted, even comic at times, but underneath there’s an undertow, a steady drumbeat reminding us of all the microaggressions black people experience on a daily basis - and that white people are mostly oblivious of. I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Storm is about fascinatingly AWFUL rich people getting their comeuppance at the hands of a young woman called Storm, a GREAT character. Full of twists turns and moving, realist reveals.
The Key to my Heart by the wonderful Lia Louis is the SWEETEST, most romantic book. It was PURE DELIGHT to read!
I was OBSESSED with this one. It’s already one of my books of the year! A VERY special book - a decades-long ‘near miss’ love story, it gave me One Day vibes. GORGEOUS, real believable and BEAUTIFUL.
I cannot tell you how much I was gripped by this book! I couldn’t bear to be away from it. I would recommend it so highly – it took me away from my world.
