Have you ever been so inspired by an author’s work that you wish you could tell them exactly how much they have impacted your life? In our new series, Literary Love Letters, we will be doing just that – sharing open love letters to inspiring authors. Today, The Memory Book author Rowan Coleman writes to Marian Keyes.
I’m very honoured to be writing a literary love letter for Novelicious, and I thought long and hard about who to write it to. Which writer in particular, I wondered, has had such a deep impact on me, my aspirations to become a writer, and whose work stays with me for such a long time? I thought about Charlotte Bronte, I thought about Nick Hornby or Helen Fielding, JoJo Moyes or Julie Cohen and then I thought about you.
The first book I ever read of yours was Sushi for Beginners, and it was a revelation. This wonderful novel showed me so much, not just how to write a novel, but how to write the kind of novel that I really wanted to write. Everything about it, from the meaningful title to the complex characters, and the strong emotional storylines swept me away, and off of my feet. And I have been a devoted reader ever since. I truly believe you are the master, the mistress, the queen of writing – not women’s fiction, not chick-lit, not rom-coms or any other genre that a person could care to think of – but simply incredible, amazing, wonderful fiction that speak to the heart.
So, dear Marian, I want to thank you for years of incredible reading that you have given, not just me, but all of us. And I look forward to many, many more.
With all best wishes,
Rowan Coleman
Who would you like to write a literary love letter to?