Marian Keyes reveals she’s writing a sequel to bestseller Rachel’s Holiday 22 years after its original release – and admits she’s ‘terrified’ it could go wrong
- Marian Keyes has revealed that she’s writing a sequel to Rachel’s Holiday
- The Irish author, 56, from Dublin, appeared on ITV’s Lorraine this morning
- She admitted that she’s terrified of ‘damaging’ her character’s universe
Marian Keyes has revealed that she’s writing a sequel to Rachel’s Holiday, 22 years after it was originally released.
The Irish author, 56, from Dublin, has admitted that she’s terrified of ‘damaging’ her character’s universe when appearing on Lorraine today.
Bleakly comic Rachel’s Holiday, which became a worldwide bestseller when it was published in 1998, sees a family intervention after an accidental overdose forces Rachel back from New York to Ireland to enter rehab.
Speaking on the ITV morning show, the writer said: ‘I’m excited slash terrified. In that it’s a book that meant an awful lot to an awful lot of people.’
Marian Keyes (pictured) has revealed that she’s writing a sequel to Rachel’s Holiday, 22 years after it was originally released
Bleakly comic Rachel’s Holiday (pictured), published in 1998, sees a family intervention after an accidental overdose force Rachel back from New York to Ireland to enter rehab
She added: ‘Ater I’d finished writing Grown Ups, there’s always a feeling of when I’ve ended a book, of am I ever going to write anything again.
‘And people have often asked about the Walsh family and one Walsh in particular kind of wouldn’t let me alone, and it’s Rachel from Rachel’s Holiday.
‘So I have started writing a book about Rachel now, 20 years on about how her life has been with Luke and all the things that have happened.’
But Marian admitted that she’s worried about how readers will feel about the sequel, adding: ‘If I do a bad job of this, I feel like I’d be destroying not only the book I’m writing, but also the previous book.
The Irish author, 56, from Dublin, has admitted that she’s terrified of ‘damaging’ her character’s universe when appearing on Lorraine today (pictured together)
Speaking on the ITV morning show, the writer said: ‘I’m excited and slashed terrified. In that it’s a book that meant an awful lot to an awful lot of people.’ Marian is pictured above in April 2016
‘I’ve always felt weird about writing sequels as I feel like a character of mine goes through an awful lot in a book of mine, and I think it’s an act of mercy to just walk away and let them live out their days in peace.’
Marian continued: ‘I don’t know if you’ve ever read the sequel of a book you’ve loved, and very often the sequel just doesn’t give you the same happy feels of the first book.
‘When that happens to me, I not only dislike the sequel, I then start to side eye the original book and think was it really that good in the first place.
She added: ‘You know there’s a lot to be damaged here, but I’m going into it and I’m enjoying it, and it’s really lovely to connect to all Walsh family.’
When told by Lorraine that she’s too hard on herself, Marian replied: ‘I think if you are hard on yourself it makes you work more, it’s a good thing to be hard on yourself to a point.’
The author also revealed how she was finding lockdown, admitting that she was largely sticking to her normal schedule.
‘I sit in the spare bedroom and I try and write,’ she explained. ‘And that was always my schedule anyway so not a huge amount has changed for me, so another thing to be grateful for.’