Marian Keyes - Sushi For Beginners

PENGUIN BOOKS

SUSHI FOR BEGINNERS

Readable and funny will no doubt affirm her place as reigning queen of romantic fiction The Times

Pick this one up for a quick leaf through and my advice to you is dont make any plans, because you will not be putting it down again until youre finished .. Put simply, its brilliant! A real page turner but with far more wit, skill and insight than are usually found in books of this genre She deserves every drop of acclaim Sunday Express

Written with warmth, compassion and a sprinkling of welcome grit if you fancy a girly read, Marian Keyes is the best bet on offer Big Issue

Marian Keyes has created three alarmingly recognisable characters in this tale about the pursuit of happiness The elusive goal of happiness is a familiar one for Keyes and that is why she writes about it with such dexterity Observer

Marian Keyes is on her usual top form with Sushi for Beginners Elle

Keyes builds her characters beautifully, as always, and there are dozens of amusing observations to have you chuckling away Heat

It should keep Keyess many fans happy, delivering her trademark mix of humour and wry observation Image

She is a talented comic writer laden with plot, twists, jokey asides and nicely turned bits of zeitgeisty observational humour energetic, well-constructed prose delivers life and people in satisfyingly various shades of grey Guardian

[She] gives popular fiction a good name, no easy feat in a field dominated by overpaid imitators and charlatans Independent on Sunday

Keyes has taken over Binchys crown as the Queen of Irish Fiction. [She] is a superior storyteller who seamlessly combines style and substance, humour and pathos, and thoroughly deserves her best-selling status. [This] book is filled with wonderful warm characters and dialogue that leaps off the pages Irish Independent

Her writing sparkles and the world is a better place for her books Irish Tatler

Marian Keyes is the queen of feel-good fiction. Her hip, heart-warming comedies have made her the hottest young female writer in Britain and the voice of a generation Daily Mirror

Keyess light touch conceals both depth and compassion; shes sassy yet subtle; and she has a real gift for dialogue and accents Ireland on Sunday

Marian Keyes is the international bestselling author of Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, Rachels Holiday, Last Chance Saloon, Sushi for Beginners, Angels, and most recently The Other Side of the Story, a Sunday Times Number One Bestseller. She is published in twenty-nine different languages. A collection of her journalism, called Under the Duvet, is also available in Penguin. Marian lives in Dublin with her husband.

Marian Keyes

PENGUIN BOOKS

PENGUIN BOOKS

Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL , England
Penguin Group (USA), Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA
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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL , England

www.penguin.com

First published by Michael Joseph 2000
Published in Penguin Books 2001
61

Copyright Marian Keyes, 2000

All rights reserved
The moral right of the author has been asserted

These characters are fictional and any resemblance to any persons living or dead is entirely coincidental

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

ISBN-13: 978-0-14-027181-2

For Niall, Caitrona, Tadhg and Rita-Anne

Thank you to my fantastic editor Louise Moore and all at Michael Joseph and Penguin for their hard work and enthusiasm.

Thanks to all at Poolbeg.

Thanks to Jonathan Lloyd and all at Curtis Brown.

Thanks to Caitrona Keyes, Mammy Keyes, Rita-Anne Keyes and Louise Voss who read this book as it was written and kept demanding more.

Thanks to Eileen Prendergast and especial thanks for giving me the name for the book!

Thanks to Siobhan Coogan for insider info on being a mammy.

Thanks to the Simon community for generously giving time and information about homelessness.

Thanks to Morag Prunty and everyone at Irish Tatler for revealing the world of magazines to me.

Thanks to all the stand-up comedians I know, none of whom are anything like the ones in the book!

Thanks to the Clarence hotel.

The following people also helped greatly with advice and enthusiasm. If Ive forgotten anyone, please forgive me: Suzanne Benson, Jenny Boland, Susie Burgin, Ailish Connelly, Gai Griffin, Suzanne Power, and Annemarie Scanlan.

Thanks, as always, to my beloved Tony, for everything.

Dammit, she realized. I think Im having a nervous breakdown

She looked around at the bed she was flung in. Her well-overdue-for-a-bath body was sprawled lethargically on the well-overdue-for-a-change sheet. Tissues, sodden and balled, littered the duvet. Gathering dust on her chest of drawers was an untouched arsenal of chocolate. Scattered on the floor were magazines shed been unable to concentrate on. The television in the corner relentlessly delivered daytime viewing direct to her bed. Yip, nervous-breakdown territory all right.

But something was wrong. What was it?

I always thought she tried. You know, I always expected

Abruptly she knew. I always thought it would be nicer than this

At Femme magazine, something had been in the air for weeks, a feeling that they were living on a fault-line. Speculation finally burst into flames when it was confirmed that Calvin Carter, the US Managing Director, had been sighted roaming around the top floor, looking for the gents. Apparently hed just arrived in London from head-office in New York.

Its happening. Lisa clenched her fists in excitement. Its actually finally, bloody happening.

Later that day the phone call came. Would Lisa pop upstairs to see Calvin Carter and British MD, Barry Hollingsworth?

Lisa slammed down the phone. Too right I would, she shouted at it.

Her colleagues barely looked up. People slamming phones down, then shouting, were ten a penny in the magazine game. Besides, they were trapped in Deadline Hell if they didnt get this months issue put to bed by nightfall, theyd miss their slot with the printers and would be scooped once again by arch-rivals Marie-Claire. But what did Lisa care, she thought, hobbling to the lift, she wouldnt have a job here after today. Shed have a much better one somewhere else.