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Walsh Family #2

Rachel's Holiday

marian keyes

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Meet Rachel Walsh. She has a pair of size 8 feet and such a fondness for recreational drugs that her family has forked out the cash for a spell in Cloisters – Dublin’s answer to the Betty Ford Clinic. She’s only agreed to her incarceration because she’s heard that rehab is wall-to-wall jacuzzis, gymnasiums and rock stars going tepid turkey – and it’s about time she had a holiday.

But what Rachel doesn’t count on are the toe-curling embarrassments heaped on her by family and group therapy, the dearth of sex, drugs and rock’n’roll – and missing Luke, her ex. What kind of a new start in life is this?

578 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1997
Series
Walsh Family
Places
dublin, ireland, 

This edition

Format
578 pages, Paperback
Published
April 1, 2002 by William Morrow Paperbacks
ISBN
9780060090388
ASIN
0060090383
Language
English

More editions

About the author

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marian keyes

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Marian Keyes (born 10 September 1963) is an Irish novelist and non-fiction writer, best known for her work in women's literature. She is an Irish Book Awards winner. Over 22 million copies of her novels have been sold worldwide and her books have been translated into 32 languages. She became known worldwide for Watermelon, Lucy Sullivan is Getting Married, and This Charming Man, with themes including domestic violence and alcoholism.

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Community Reviews

Rating(4 / 5.0, 100 votes)
5 stars
33(33%)
4 stars
32(32%)
3 stars
35(35%)
2 stars
0(0%)
1 stars
0(0%)
100 reviews All reviews
Profile Image for Kimberly .
ImSoBored927
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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A very high 3 stars, it just was very long I did feel like I had to push through sometimes but it was very entertaining. Covered a deep topic and really made you understand her perspective, I also find Marian’s humour funny so lots of laughs! Definitely want to buy the new sequel to see what happened next for Rachel!
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Maca___
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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This was excellent. Full on got me through my first three weeks of quarantine. Also a lot more impactful than I expected. I wish I had read it earlier.
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Sage0_0
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Rachel wakes up in Hospital. Bruised after having her stomach pumped to save her life after a drug overdose. She cannot quite believe how her family and friends are overreacting to this small insignificant accident - surely everyone has made the occasional mistake of mixing a line of coke with a handful of Valium and be unable to remember how many sleeping tablets they've had?

She's rushed back to Ireland by her family in booked into The Cloisters, an exclusive Rehab Centre and she cannot wait. Long Jacuzzi's, massages followed by a stint in the Sauna not to mention all the celebrities' she will be mingling with - no better holiday, after all she's not an addict .......

Soon Rachel discovers that this is no Health Retreat and she has to face her recent behavior to her friends, family and the man that may be the love of her life.

You cannot help but be fully invested in Rachel's journey, her slow realization that she is addicted to drugs and finding the motivations behind her low self esteem and finally finding herself, her confidence and her future.

Heartbreakingly moving but with a twist of wry humor throughout I could not read this fast enough.
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inespisca
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I think I got this for free from apple books years ago as part of a Christmas giveaway. I really wasn't expecting to like it but I was very wrong.

We follow Rachel, a drug addict who is very much in denial. After an accidental overdose, her family send her to a rehab facility. She only agreed to go because she thinks it will be like a relaxing spa.

While the story could be a little trite at times, I thought the author did a very good job of making the book witty, despite the potentially heavy subject matter. The ending was a little too breezy for me as well but overall I loved this book. 4.5 stars
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MangaGreat
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Rachel is forced into a rehabilitation center by her family, but consoles herself with the belief that it is a luxury spa. Instead, she finds a run down building, seemingly bizarre companions with every type of addiction imaginable, endless therapy, and the feeling that while THEY may need to be there,she does not. But Rachel's story of her rehab sojourn is sandwiched between scenes from her wild life in NY, and by the time her ex-boyfriend and best friend arrive for an intervention, we know that she is in a state of denial. Can she come to terms with who she is, start a new life and maybe, just maybe, find happiness?

Once again, Keyes lets us see the world through a Walsh sister's eyes, and there is both humor and pathos here. It's not a fluffy story, but one with believable characters, and readers will cheer Rachel on to her hopeful ending.
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angelsreview
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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Although over 600 pages in length, it was an easy read. Not a light one though - the story centred on a drug addict, Rachel. And the Holiday? Rehab. It was surprisingly funny and at times gut wrenching but really enjoyed it overall.
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bobandvagene
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I read this a long time ago, before I started keeping track. Love the Walsh family series and this is an interesting look at addiction and recovery.
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abominationn
★ ★ ★ ★ ★
April 26,2025
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I waffled between five and four stars for all of ten seconds before deciding on five, simply because of my sheer inability to be rational about this novel.

I fell in love with Rachel, and I have no idea why. If I hadn't picked this up at a library sale when my impulse control was at it's lowest, I wouldn't have it at all. There's literally nothing about this book, from the cover, to the genre, to the jacket copy to make me think I'd enjoy it, or that it was my kind of book. Because it really isn't.

In fact, my first thought on opening the book on a whim a year after putting it on my shelf (not an uncommon phenomenon) was "oh, nice typeface." Rachel's story was convincing and compelling, if only because the reader is so well grounded in her mental state—she's all over the place emotionally and never seems to notice, but you still get a sense of who she really is under all the drugs. And even knowing that she's in more trouble than she thinks she is, Rachel's done a thorough job of hiding from herself, so as bad as it is, you're almost as shocked as she is when confronted.

Even that wouldn't be enough to give in five stars in my mental rating system, but when Rachel is forced to remember her early childhood, I abruptly found myself in tears. I haven't connected so strongly to a character in I don't know how long. And I don't know why it's Rachel, either. If I were anyone in this novel, I'd be Margaret, the 'brownose' But for Rachel, I spent much of the second half of the novel in tears for her, and was so proud of her recovery. Bizarre, but this unexpected total empathy is exactly why I read, and I haven't experienced it for a while.

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