Hi, I'm Carling O'Donoughou, the host of Sentimental Garbage, and welcome to the bonus episode of my interview with Marion Keys, author of Watermelon.

If you haven't listened to my chat with Lucy Vine yet,

maybe go back and listen now for the full experience.

Here's my full conversation with Marion

in which we discuss emotional abuse,

the post-femininous landscape of the 1990s and the famous Walsh

sisters. Also watch out Marion's Irish and I found incredibly Irish on this phone call.

Thank you so much for talking to us about watermelon. I know it's um you've written so many books since then that it must seem like a bit of a

fuzzy memory at this point, but I suppose it was your debut and that must have a really special place in your heart, you know?

I mean, like writing that book was the most fun I have had doing anything ever in my entire life.

And none of the books, you know, I've never enjoyed any of them as much as I enjoyed writing that one.

And why was that do you think?

Because I had a clue what I was doing.

And I really mean that, like, I just thought you could write anything when you wrote a book

anything that came into my head I just threw it in and I had no idea of like maybe

that's not appropriate maybe that doesn't belong here or whatever. Like I just I had no idea of rules and it was just it was a very

joyous time you know I had no idea really how lucky I was with all of it. I had a very similar experience when I started writing my book. I just sort of, I suddenly one day I'd been writing and being a journalist and doing all that stuff for so long and then I suddenly got this like strike of inspiration and then I was like look I have I've got no wedding to plan for I got no babies

Maybe this could be this like like time even moment in my life where I can just do something selfishly and only for myself.

Yes. Did you have a similar kind of moment like that?

Completely. Like I wrote that book for myself and I just enjoyed every second and I didn't agonize about plots I didn't agonize

about characterization like I mean you know I probably think the subsequent books I've

written have been better crafted and everything but watermelon was just me doing it for me and it was just such a pleasure.

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