Cathy Kelly Books In Order

Publication Order of Standalone Novels

Publication Order of Short Stories/Novellas

Publication Order of Short Story Collections

Publication Order of Anthologies

Cathy Kelly is a reputed Irish novelist and former journalist, who is famous for writing women’s fiction, romance, fiction, contemporary, and chick lit novels. She has penned a number of successful women’s fiction standalone novels. Kelly has been writing since 1997 and has produced many bestselling books over the years. Her popular fiction books have helped her gain international recognition. They have been translated into numerous foreign languages and published globally. Kelly became the winner of the Romantic Novelists’ Association’s ‘Romantic Novel of the Year’ award for her 2001 book called Someone Like You. She is considered one of the most successful Irish female authors since Maeve Binchy. On one occasion, she had outsold both J.K. Rowling and Dan Brown in the United Kingdom.

Author Kelly was born on September 12, 1966, in Belfast, Ireland. She grew up in Dublin and completed her schooling from a convent school. Following her graduation, Kelly worked for the Sunday World as a newspaper journalist for thirteen years. Her work mostly involved news and features along with being a film critic and an agony aunt at times. There was always an overwhelming love for fiction in Kelly’s heart. During her journalism career, she used to make use of her spare time in writing fiction. Eventually, she completed her first novel, Woman to Woman, and published it in 1997. The novel went on to become an international bestseller and enabled Kelly to make her arrival in the world of writing felt with a bang. However, she continued working with her former career and eventually became a full-time writer in 2001 after she wrote and published two more books.

Kelly came up with back to back successful novels in the following successive years. Her book, Always and Forever, was the first one to become a hardback number one. With this book, Kelly topped the over bestseller list in the UK in October 2005 and displaced Dan Brown and JK Rowling, who were on top position for most weeks before her. Two of Kelly’s books were selected for the Irish Book Awards for the year’s Top Eason Irish Popular Fiction. Kelly topped the bestseller list in the UK again with Once in a Lifetime, which held the top position for multiple weeks. She achieved the feat again in 2011 with the novel Homecoming. Recently, Kelly came up with a collection of short stories called Christmas Magic. It became Ireland’s Christmas number one.

Author Kelly is immensely popular all over the world. She has reached the number one spot in various bestseller lists in New Zealand and Australia. She visits these countries every year for book signings and writers’ conferences. Her trademark style of writing is warm storytelling. The themes in her books include relationships, marriage, depression, loss, etc. Each of her books always end with strong messages with respect to women. In addition to writing, author Kelly is involved in several charities. She has also been UNICEF Ireland’s ambassador since 2005. Kelly works as UNICEF’s Global Parent by which she raises awareness and funds for orphans and HIV/AIDS patients. In relation to these roles, Kelly has visited Mozambique and Rwanda. As of today, she resides in Enniskerry, County Wicklow along with her loving husband named John and twin sons Murray and Dylan. Kelly has a great fondness for dogs and looks after three of them at her house.

A popular book written by author Cathy Kelly is entitled ‘Best of Friends’. It was released in 2003 and re-released by Downtown Press in 2005. The book consists of the primary characters as Abby Barton, Sally, Lizzie, and Erin. The story opens by showing that the TV career of Abby Barton begins to take, which makes her hopeful of fulfilling her dream of having a great life with her husband in a beautiful Irish town. However, it seems far from happening because her husband takes her for granted and her teenage daughter doesn’t appreciate her much. Abby begins to fear that her dream might never get fulfilled. She considers herself lucky that she has her best friends to provide her important views about how she should proceed to deal with her family problems.

One of her friends, Sally, is the owner of a salon. She always throws fantastic parties with her husband so as to keep their life happening and making way for new friends to be made. Another friend Lizzie always makes herself available when her friends need her. She manages her time for her children and even takes out some for her ex-husband. When Lizzie learns that her former husband has found another woman, she becomes disheartened and begins to give up on love. Abby, Lizzie, and Sally become thrilled to come across Erin, who shifted there from Chicago because of the new job of her husband. She wonders if she will be able to adjust to life in a small town. The 4 women come together to share the highs & lows of each other’s life. Each one makes the others stay strong and face difficulties like a fighter. They inspire one another in their own ways and always look to find happiness.

Another exciting book penned by Kelly is known as ‘Just Between Us’. It was released in 2006 by the Gallery Books publication. This novel tells the story of an Irish family comprising of three sisters, who come across various aspects of life as they move on. Kelly has set the plot in a town called Kinvarra in Ireland and has mentioned the lead characters as Stella Miller, Tara Miller, Finn, Holly Miller, and Rose Miller. The book begins by depicting that the Miller sisters keep themselves busy in their respective profession and are seen as having everything in life. Stella is an attorney by profession and a single mother. She is meeting a new man and hopes to get lucky at luck second time.

Tara works as a writer of TV soap operas. She has recently married Finn, with whom she was in a romantic relationship for six months. Holly is seen as a shy and beautiful lady. She remains involved among her artistic friends in a beautiful apartment and cherishes every bit of her bohemian life. The mother of the Miller sisters, Rose Miller, is a calm and elegant woman. She looks forward to celebrate her 40th wedding anniversary. As the plans for the anniversary are set in motion, it is revealed that nothing is as it appears in the lives of the Miller family. The heartaches that the four women had kept hidden from each other start emerging, making them wonder if they are strong enough to deal with the truth and find other ways of happiness in life.