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Maeve Binchy Message Board 2/11/2007 8:03:08 PM
Talk about the novels, new and used books that Binchy has written!

Author Binchy's Book Reviews

Circle of Friends (Romance)
A true love story at it's best. The friendships and relationships in this book are true and lasting. I didn't want this book to end. I fell in love with all the characters. (Just a small footnote, the movie was a horrible let down. It did nothing to capture the real sorrow, love, and friendship of the book.)...
Circle Of Friends (Literature)
This coming of age novel from the pen of Maeve Binchy is delightful. As young Benny Hogan grows into young adulthood, she finds a friend in Eve, an orphan raised by nuns in the local convent. Together she and Eve leave home for Dublin to attend college although Benny's overprotective parents force her to return home each evening on the bus. First year college romances arrive for both Benny and Eve. Despite overcoming many obstacles in gaining a f...
Echoes
If you shout your question into the belly of the cave, it echoes the answer you are looking for. This book captures the quirks of small town life and lives of the people living it. Maeve Binchy does not disappoint her faithful readers with another page turner. I could not put this one down....
Evening Class
"Evening Class" is an amazingly intimate study of human character. Ms. Binchy presents each of several characters in such a way that the reader feels actually acquainted with them. You feel they are only a telephone call away!...

Binchy booklist

Firefly Summer
A wealthy American returns to the small town in Ireland to re-build Fernscourt, the old mansion that burned down years ago. His plans to turn Fernscourt into a hotel catering to Americans brings new friendships, passion, tragedy, and turn this peacful town upsidedown. This is a close second to Tara Road. It is a long book, but well worth the read. An excellent beach book!...
Heart and Soul
This is a story about a new cardiac center attached to St Brigid's Hospital in Dublin and the lives of the people that work there, the lives of the patients and how they intertwine. Dr Clara Casey takes up an appointment to head a new cardiac unit in a Dublin hospital. She is not happy with the post, having missed out on a marvelous job in a cardiac unit in London, but decides to take it on for 12 months. Clara has two daughters, Adi who is 23 and a t...
Light a Penny Candle
This is a story of two young women who meet as children and have a very close and wonderful relationship throughout their lives. It is a story of misguided love and unreturned love and unsatisfactory relationships for each of these women....
Minding Frankie
Noel is an alcoholic, working in a dead end job, who suddenly finds he is about to become a father and care giver to a baby girl whose mother is terminally ill and will die during the delivery. Noel lives with his parents, Charles and Josie Lynch at their home in Jarlath's Crescent, Dublin. He used to spend his evenings having dinner with his parents and saying the rosary but as his life became more depressing, he stopped at the pub on his way home fro...
Nights of Rain and Stars
Night of Rain and Stars is about four people from different countries who are holidaying on a Greek Island and how the people on the island, especially Vonni, influence their future. Vonni is a 50-something Irish woman who ran away from Ireland with a Greek lover over 30 years ago. They returned to the island of his birth - Aghia Anna. Sadly the relationship didn't last and Vonni became an alcoholic and lost her son Stavros, whom she has not seen in ma...
Quentins
Quentin's is a novel by author Maeve Binchy detailing the changes of the restaurant within the context of Dublin's changing history. The main character, Ella, is endorsed to create a film about the restaurant called Quentins from her film company, Firefly Films. Through the making of this documentary, the stories of numerous patrons of the restaurant come into play. The tale delineates the various romances, business negotiations, and friendships ...

Maeve Binchy list of books

Scarlet Feather
Cathy and Tom Feather met at boarding school and they have dreams of starting a catering business together. But her mother-in-law can't stand her, and her hubby Neil, is much much too busy to even give any support or care. But Cathy gfoes ahead anyhow, with Neil's support, and together they find a place and start the business. And much to the dismay of all, once they start, have much success. Other delightful characters in this story are Simon and Ma...
Tara Road
This story is all about two sisters, Hilary and Ria. In the beginning they live with their widowed mother Nora. Then each girl meets a man. Hilary gets married to the kind down-to-earth Martin, and Ria meets up with Danny at her job. Danny is a little too 'smooth.' Danny says they will have an expensive house on Tara Road, and Ria wonders how. Danny pulled some strings to get in there. They go on as a family, later having two children. Later on, there...
The Copper Beech (Romance)
This is a story of the lives of the people who live in a small town in Ireland. There are no real main characters, because everyone in this book is somehow tied to another. It was a hard book to review, but a defiante good read. The writing style for this book is a bit different, but it is guaranteed to pull at your heart strings. It will make you laugh, cry, and cheer at the end....
The Copper Beech (Literature)
Basically, the story is about a little Irish town. Shancarrig, whose young people carved their initials-and those of their loves into the Copper Beech tree. Some of the main characters though, in the story were the following: Maddy is lonely and lives with her mother. She meets Father Barry, the priest when she becomes a teacher, and falls in love. He can't return that love however in his position. Maura has a drunken father and lives in a very poo...
The Glass Lake (Literature)
Glass Lake By Maeve Binchy Another beautiful tale from Binchy. This time she has dealt a very tough issue of a woman faithless in her marriage. The story is that of a Mother abandoning her family in quest of love. The story spans over a decade and with so many characters, each of them so well described in the simple style of Binchy. Even though the plot is not original, it is the handling of the subject and the supporting character which makes it ...
The Glass Lake (Romance)
A women leaves her family to live with her first love. However, mismatched events leads the family to believe she drowned in the lake instead. This is the struggle of the daughter growing up without a mother, and later finding out her mother is alive and well. ...

Maeve Binchy novels

The Lilac Bus
A tough one to review, yet still a good Binchy read. Each chapter examines the life of a "ticket holder" on the Lilac Bus. It gives the reader a look into each person's life and a chance to see the interaction of the other members on the bus. Somewhat similar to the writing in The Evening Class by Binchy. **Bonus** At the back of the book is 4 short stories by Ms. Binchy. Dinner in Donnybrook was wonderful, and for a short story, one of my new fav...
The Return Journey
Its about a mother and daughter and how the daughter goes to Dublin in Ireland to find out where her mother grew up and the truth and she also goes to college there....
The Ten Snaps of Christmas
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