The Woman Who Stole My Life: British Book Awards Author of the Year 2022

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What does Aoife McMahon bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

The publicity is more than gruelling, and Stella can never quite trust that her ex-neurologist, the quite amazing Mannix, really loves her. The Woman Who Stole My Life is a stand alone title featuring Stella Sweeney, a Dublin wife, mother and beautician, whose ordinary life is turned completely upside down when she falls ill with a rare illness. The publisher encouraged her to submit a full-length novel and Keyes began work on her first book, Watermelon.I was always melancholic and prone to sadness and hopelessness but this was catastrophic and unimaginable. Stella has miraculously survived a life threatening illness and has written a book about her experience. With shaking limbs, I crawled my way across to the open door and when I was outside and leaning against a wall I saw that Range Rover Man was also free. In fairness, by dint of having me as his mother, he’s had a roller coaster of a time of it, so much so that when he was fifteen he asked to be put up for adoption. I have to admit I had my reservations about it as I'd read a book similar not long before, but this was truly overwhelming and a book I know I will constantly refer too, recommend and reread.

Irish beautician Stella Sweeney is leading an unremarkable life with her husband and children when she is stricken by Guillain-Barr Syndrome. This is a fairly new departure and, against all evidence to the contrary, he thinks he’s brilliant at it. In The Woman Who Stole My Life she looks at what happens when very bad things happen to good – well, normal – people. Over 22 million copies of her novels have been sold worldwide and her books have been translated into 32 languages.However, I’m delighted that I can stop pretending to work for a little while, and I run down the stairs. Not that she’s been struck by any great inspiration, not that she’s able to think of the words, let alone get them down on the page.