The brightest star

Marian Keyes, the Irish author known for her warm and funny women's fiction, sets this ensemble novel in a Dublin townhouse where seven neighbours find their lives tangled together. A cheeky, far-seeing sprite arrives intending to change at least one of them, but it is unclear what the change will be or who the sprite will pick.

The residents include Matt and Maeve, a newly married couple whose fairy-tale romance hits its first hurdle; Lydia, a brash taxi driver with a softer side; Katie, a PR executive turning forty who wants a more fulfilling life; and Jemima, the building's eldest, who is hosting her son Fionn while he films a new television series as a handsome gardener.

Readers who enjoy the sharp, darkly comic tone of Candace Bushnell or the brisk pacing of Sophie Kinsella will find a similar energy here. Keyes's familiar themes and well-drawn characters make the story funny on the surface and more substantial underneath.