Hi, I'm Zivie Owens, and you're listening to the award-winning podcast.

Moms don't have time to read books. Thanks so much for listening to my podcast. If you like what you hear,

please follow me on Instagram at Zibby Owens and also at Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. Thanks so much for listening. Enjoy it.

Today's episode has been sponsored by Shaka Tea. Shaka Tea is a line of Hawaii-grown herbal ice teas with a commitment to the health of their consumers and health of the land.

Shaka tea is a naturally caffeine-free, no-sugar-added product and support sustainable farming and regenerative agriculture. Shop Shaka tea is a naturally caffeine-free, no-sugar-added product, and support sustainable farming

and regenerative agriculture. Shop Shaka-T-T-S-H-A-K-A-T. Mary and Keyes is one of the most

successful Irish novelists of all time. She's written 14 novels, including Lucy

Sullivan is getting married, Rachel's

Holiday, and her latest grownups. Her books have all been bestsellers with 30 million of her

books sold in 33 languages around the world. Anybody out there won the British Book Award

for Popular Fiction and the Melissa Nathan Prize for Comedy Romance. This charming man won the Irish Book Award for Popular Fiction.

In 2009, she wrote, Saved by Cake, which we'll discuss later,

and three collections of journalism, including under the duvet and further under their duvet,

and making it up as I go along notes from a small woman.

She was born in Limerick in 1963 and spent her 20s in London and now lives

in Dunlug hair with her husband. So welcome to Marian. I'm so excited to be talking to her today.

Hi, how are you? Hi, Zivie. Can you hear me? Yeah, it was breaking up with me there, but yeah, I can hear you.

Oh, thanks so much for coming on my show. It's so nice to talk to you. I'm honored. Thank you so much for having me. Aw. Well, there is so much to talk to you about all of these books. Your latest book is amazing. Your whole career. I heard that you didn't even know you wanted to be a writer, that it was just something that kind of fell into your lap.

Yeah, I didn't start writing until I was 30. And at that stage, I had gone to law school. I was working in accounts. And it was only kind of when my life started kind of shutting down. Anyone who knows my story knows that I'm in recovery for

alcoholism. So it was the tail end of my alcoholism was when I started writing. And I do think

they were very, very linked the two items. So I went through rehab. And when I came out of rehab,

I realized that writing was what I wanted to do. And, you know, within 18 months of coming out of rehab, my first novel was published.

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