Roll over Bridget Jones: there's a new kid on the comedy/romance fiction block. OK, so Marian Keyes isn't new. OK, so the format of this book isn't new either. Take three girls. One is a hard-as-nails, ultra-chic London editor called Lisa who is sent to Dublin - deported, as she sees it - to start up a women's magazine. One is a gorgeous housewife and mother called Clodagh who is finding marriage with two children a serious chore. And the third is overly organised Aisling, who is convinced she has no waist and never goes out without a bag full of sticking plasters, rescue remedy and a portable sewing kit. So far, so predictable; and if the whole frothy concoction isn't to turn into a sticky, sodden mess, it needs a very light touch indeed.
Well, it won't come as any surprise to regular readers of Marian Keyes that she has developed precisely that. Since her debut with the somewhat sugary Watermelon her novels have shown a steady and impressive improvement; with this one she has arrived, with one lithe bound, at a new level. Sushi for Beginners is a delightful slice of romance fiction - charming, tightly paced, spiced with humour. Keyes's observations on the world of magazine journalism are sharply accurate - the gruesome titles (Celtic Health, Keol, and best of all, The Catholic Judger), the jealously-guarded freebies (Lisa regularly squeezes her size six feet into incoming Patrick Cox stilettos rather than pass them on to a colleague who actually takes size five), the naff ceremonies (has Ms Keyes actually attended a "leaving" do in a magazine or newspaper, we ask ourselves, for her description of same on page seven strikes a horribly familiar chord . . . ?).
As for the lovey-dovey, let's-tie-up-the-loose-strands ending demanded by the genre, it's not all sweetness and light in this case, by any means; think wasabi, with that hint of ginger and the sudden, swooping sting of horseradish, and you'll be closer to the mark. Depressed at the onset of autumn? Don't be. With its bright splodges of sunshine and occasional blustery showers, Sushi for Beginners is a beguiling way to see off a dark evening or two.
Arminta Wallace is an Irish Times staff journalist
