Marian Keyes describes her incredible 29 years of sobriety as ‘the most wonderful journey’
Marian Keyes won the Popular Fiction Book of the Year for Again, Rachel in the Irish Book Awards 2022
Author Marian Keyes has shared she is sober 29 years today. The award-winning writer posted on social media that she thought her life was over before she gave up alcohol.
“Back in January 1994 I thought my life was over. But its been the most wonderful journey, “ she writes. “If you're struggling with or worried about alcohol I promise you that recovery is possible, that you've nothing to lose but your shame.”
The year after Keyes left rehab her first novel, Watermelon, was published. She has spoken openly about her alcoholism in the past and her time in rehab, which inspired her bestselling novel Rachel’s Holiday.
“Once I did go through rehab and admit the game was up, things were possible for me: healthy relationships, a career, honest, authentic friendships,” she said in an interview last year.
In 2022, her 15th novel, Again, Rachel — a sequel to Rachel’s Holiday — was published. Ahead of its release, she said she felt drawn back to the character of Rachel.
“I think it must have been that connection with her as an addict,” Keyes said. After a suicide attempt when the writer was 30, her parents checked her into a clinic in Ireland for alcoholism. “She’s an addict, I’m an addict.”
She said the sequel “recognises the vulnerability that an addict lives with every day. Every single day there is a possibility that your life could kind of slip off, slip out of being normal and fall through the cracks again,” she explained. “I’m making it sound very grim and it’s not.”
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