Things become more complicated for Claire. James, her husband, shows up in Dublin to attempt a reconciliation with her. He shows up the day that Claire made love to Adam, and is staying at a hotel. Claire must decide whether she wants to pursue a relationship with Adam, or work things out with James. She feels she should try to patch things up with James for their daughter's sake. Claire has named her daughter Kate, after her grandmother on her mother's side. She tried everything, from reiki to cognitive behavioural therapy to "vitamin supplements up the wazoo", and even going to mass with her mother. "That's how bad I was. I abhor Catholicism, but I was that desperate." In the end, it was the passage of time, plus the discovery of a new hobby/obsession, baking (which led to a book of recipes) plus the slow, painful emergence of the novel that would become The Mystery of Mercy Close, which pulled her out of the pit. Discover the riotously funny, tender and touching debut from the No. 1 bestselling author of Grown Ups Through meetings and discussions with James, and meetings and talks with Adam, Claire makes her decision. She decides she will leave James for good. She will work on building a love relationship with Adam. James will not accept responsibility for the affair he had. He says that Claire, through her demands on him and selfishness, drove him to have an affair. He won't admit that he was wrong. He turns the tables and makes it like he is a victim, and that Claire must change her ways if the marriage is to work. Claire does not fall for this line of reasoning. She knows she is not the devil James is making her out to be. She knows that she cannot be with him if he cannot see what he did wrong.

verifyErrors }}{{ message }}{{ /verifyErrors }}{{ For a long time all I could do was read what I'd written," Keyes says. "Even when I couldn't write I'd read what I'd written and think 'how did those words come when I was feeling so bad?' It was very comforting, very encouraging … I really never thought I'd finish it, but it kept me going."In her 20s Keyes was an alcoholic and, after trying to kill herself at the age of 30, ended up in rehab (she now divides her life into before and after drinking). The recent depression was worse. After the course, she had about a week "of feeling really kind of elated, and then the elation began to move into shimmering, strange, manic anxiety, and then into a catastrophic fear … People looked different to me; people close to me, like Tony [her husband]. I used to have moments of thinking 'I don't know who you are'. It was horrific, like a psychotic episode that went on for a long time. Whatever they did to me in that place, it brought me face to face with my worst fears."

And there's no way she's giving up on happy endings, or comedy. "Jesus, life is hard enough. I mean, I need to have a laugh," she says. "I used to feel defensive when people would say 'yes, but your books have happy endings', as if that made them worthless, or unrealistic. Some people do get happy endings, even if it's only for a while. I would rather never be published again than write a downbeat ending. I couldn't have something permanent in the world like a book with something that accepted that life is as painful as it really is." Reading a novel by Marian Keyes is like sitting at the kitchen table with your nicest, most confiding friend' Daily Mail Love the Walsh sisters? Don't miss out on the eagerly awaited sequel to Rachel's Holiday: AGAIN, RACHEL . . . On the day she gives birth to her first child, Claire's husband James tells her he's been having an affair, and that now's the right time to leave her. Will she forgive and forget? Or can she find the courage to take a chance on herself, and start a life of her own?Joyful. Keyes' clever way with words and extraordinary wit. People stared at me as I laughed to myself' C.L. Taylor