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Wynelda-Ann Deaver

Under the Duvet: Shoes, Reviews, Having the Blues, Builders, Babies, Families & Other Calamities
By Marion Keyes
Publisher: Perennial
ISBN: 0-06-056208-0
US: $12.95
Trade Paperback

I picked up Under the Duvet by Marion Keyes, not knowing what to expect. I had heard it was a hilarious account of the writing life by a well known author. I am here to report that it is… and it isn't.

Under the Duvet is actually a collection of essays, both published and unpublished, that Keyes wrote. Some of them talk about the writing life, about going on tour, book signings and such. Others revolve around family life, holidays, and travel. The question remains… Is it required reading for writers?

This is not Stephen King's On Writing, or Lamott's Bird By Bird. While there are a few glimpses into the writing life, this book is not full of advice or helpful hints to navigate through the publishing industry. Instead, this is a witty account of everyday life as seen through the eyes of one writer.

The collection is grouped together by topic: Oh, the Glamour, Mind, Body, Spirit…and Shoes, Friends and Family, All Grown-Up, Twelve Months, Both Sides of the Irish Sea and That's Me Away! While anecdotes about the writing life abound throughout the book, it is in the first section where Keyes has placed essays on the writing life.

To kick off Under the Duvet, the first essay is "Paperback Writher." I love a writer who can admit:

So now, muse or no muse, I work eight hours a day,
Monday to Friday, just like I did when I was an accounts
Clerk. The main difference is that I work in bed. Not
Because I am a lazy lump (OK, not just because I'm a
lazy lump), but just because the idea of sitting at a desk
daunts me and, frankly, I'm daunted enough.
(Page 5)

…and, in another confession a paragraph later

Most days I start work at about eight o'clock-
kicking the day off with a good dose of terror.
Today is the day, I usually think, when I run out of
ideas, when the inspiration packs its bags and
goes to find another accounts clerk and transforms
their life.
(Page 5)

I don't know about you, gentle reader, but I love a best-selling author who can admit to being daunted by a desk and who lives in fear of losing the muse. I can relate to Keyes, love the way she puts a humorous spin on fears that can hold a writer immobile. Let's face it, if I'm being honest, the admissions that slip through in Under the Duvet make me feel normal. I'm not alone in my weirdness. Her obsession with shoes, which I share to some degree, is gravy.

Bottom line on Under the Duvet is that it is a great read. Light, humorous, with some poignant insights scattered through out, (see "The Pissed is a Foreign Country, They Do Things Differently There" on alcoholism) I happily snuggled under my own duvet and read the book through. A warning for male readers: this book is on the chick-lit side and may not appeal to your sensibilities. To paraphrase Keyes, you're missing the shoe gene.