The Woman Who Stole My Life

July 6, 2015
Keyes (The Mystery of Mercy Close) infuses her trademark levity into her latest novel, an honest examination of how dynamics change when one is struck with a life-threatening disease. Irish beautician Stella Sweeney is leading an unremarkable life with her husband and children when she is stricken by Guillain-Barré Syndrome. Immediately, the disease renders her locked into her bodyâable to think, see, and hear, but only able to communicate via blinking. After her marriage breaks up, the only bright spots in her days are visits from her neurologist, Mannix Taylor, with whom she forms a reluctant alliance. After she recovers, Stella discovers that Mannix has compiled all of the messages she blinked into book form, and she is thrust into the spotlight as a self-help author while also trying to adjust to an unexpected yet much appreciated romance. Keyes meanders a bit with the story, which toggles between the present day and Stella's illness in the past, introducing plot points that might resonate betterâand be better understoodâonce readers have gotten to know the flawed yet engaging main character and the solid lineup of supporting characters. Still, Keyes manages to bring a lightness and humor to a weighty topic.

May 1, 2015
The roller-coaster tale of a chatty Dublin woman rendered speechless, then renewed by the love of a good doctor-and a terrible literary agent. From the Brontes to Maeve Binchy to Helen Fielding, British and Irish writers have long specialized in diarylike stories of ordinary women thwarted by unusual circumstances. The Limerick-born Keyes, now on her 13th novel (The Mystery of Mercy Close, 2013, etc.), offers an entertaining if choppy take on the genre. Her heroine, Stella Sweeney, shuttles between the present and recent past to unpeel a quirky love story. While muddling through a mediocre marriage blessed with two surly teens, Stella is felled by a sudden illness that confines her to the hospital for months, unable to move or speak. As her husband grows petulant and her children, more distant, Stella finds herself connecting only with her handsome neurologist, the perfectly named Mannix. He draws an articulate wisdom out of his patient that much of her rambling narrative doesn't lead us to expect, and the two of them start a stormy relationship after Stella has healed and both their marriages have crumbled. When it turns out that-why not?-the doc has gone ahead and self-published a collection of bedridden Stella's bons mots, it somehow winds up in the hands of the U.S. vice president's wife in a photo in People (yes, that's as convoluted as it sounds). Thus begins Stella's new career as a memoirist, feeding the American hunger for nuggets of cliched advice resulting from extreme hardship. Her journey involves Manhattan, money-grubbing publishers, highbrow beauties, oddball relatives, and a lot of phone sex. It's a fun romp, as they say, but be sure to bring your suspension of disbelief to the book release party. A salon owner-turned-invalid-turned author struggles to make sense of her life, and sometimes so do we.

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March 15, 2015
Irish beautician Stella leads a perfectly sedate life with her husband and two teenage childrenuntil she is suddenly struck with Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare neurological disease that leaves her paralyzed, bed-ridden in hospital for months, and unable to talk. Mannix, a handsome doctor, teaches her to communicate by blinking her eyes, and Stella begins to improve. When she finally does recover, it's time to re-evaluate her life, a process that becomes more complicated by the fact that Mannix has ghostwritten a memoir filled with the wisdom Stella was able to impart via winkingand the wife of the U.S. vice president has been spotted with a copy. Suddenly, Stella is thrown into a whirlwind: she moves to New York, endures a grueling book tour, and eventually comes to question her right to be a published author. The narrative jumps through places and time periods, making it difficult to follow at times; that, coupled with plot devices that lead nowhere and an odd reliance on repetitive jokes, makes this one of Keyes' weaker novels. Still, she has lots of fans, so purchase accordingly.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

February 15, 2015

Irish beautician Stella Sweeney is minding her own business when she is hospitalized for months after falling seriously ill. When she finally recovers, she learns that her doctor has self-published a memoir about caring for her--and it's a hit. Even as Stella's relationship with Dr. Mannix Taylor star-shoots off in unexpected directions, Stella must entirely rethink--in a fun way--who she is. Big publicity.

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2015

In this dual narrative that straddles one woman's tale of before and after, Keyes (The Mystery of Mercy Close; This Charming Man) sets forth the story of Stella Sweeney, an average wife and mother who unexpectedly makes good after her recovery from a paralyzing illness. At the beginning of the novel, Stella's trying mightily to get her life back on track, and alternating chapters peel away the layers of backstory, from despair and resignation to fame and fortune and back again. Not only is her beautician career in tatters, but her family is falling apart, too. The book-within-a-book format that dribbles out details initially makes it hard for readers to get their bearings, and the action, once it gets going, comes to a rather sudden, if neatly wrapped, ending. However, the part of the tale in which Stella's love story is at its zenith delivers an emotionally satisfying romance. VERDICT A deeply charming work, despite its unevenness, this one is recommended for Keyes fans and readers who enjoy rags-to-riches stories; book groups will find a lot to discuss. [See Prepub Alert, 1/25/15.]--Amy Brozio-Andrews, Albany P.L., NY

Copyright 2015 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.