Maeve Binchy is the author of "Nights of Rain and Star"s, "Scarlet
Feather," "Quentins," "Light a Penny Candle," "Circle of Friends,"
and "Tara Road" (An Oprah Book Club Selection) and many other
bestselling books. Maeve is a retired journalist and former
columnist for "The Irish Times" and currently divides her time
between Dalkey, Ireland and London with her husband, writer Gordon
Snell. She is an honorary citizen of Chicago where she was
celebrated by having her own float in their St. Patrick's Day
Parade.
Learn more about Maeve Binchy at:
www.maevebinchy.com
"A tour de force.... Binchy is in top form." --"The Seattle
Times"
"What could be sweeter than a trip to [an] Irish village packed
with robust native characters? That's exactly what Maeve Binchy
offers in her latest novel." --"The Christian Science Monitor"
""Whitethorn Woods" is Binchy's best read in a decade.... Few
contemporary novelists match Binchy's gift for giving us the world
through her characters' eyes."
--"The Globe and Mail "
"Binchy has an accessible, comfortable writing style and fine
storytelling ability."
--"Rocky Mountain News"
"Binchy's best read in a decade. " --"The Globe and Mail"
"A remarkably gifted writer [and] a wonderful student of human
nature." --"The New York Times Book Review"
"Love, longing, and rich scenes of daily life.... What could be
sweeter than a trip to [an] Irish village packed with robust native
characters." --"The Christian Science Monitor"
"Binchy makes you laugh, cry and care."""--"San Francisco
Chronicle"
"Binchy is a grand storyteller in the finest Irish tradition....
She writes from the heart."
--"The Plain Dealer"
"An engaging read." -- "Daily News"
"Binchy can channel Irish voices with the best of them, and each of
those voices has its own twisting story to tell."
-- "The Columbus Dispatch"
"Reading one of Maeve Binchy's novels is like coming home."
-- "The Washington Post"
"Binchy has an accessible, comfortable writing style and fine
storytelling ability . . . [Her] stories of an Ireland in
transition have pleased readers for years."
-Joan Hinkemeyer, "Rocky Mountain News"
"Maeve Binchy is a benevolent god of a novelist . . . "Whitethorn
Woods "draws on her strengths: She can channel Irish voices with
the best of them, and each of those voices has its own twisting
story to tell . . . often with verve and humor."
-Margaret Quamme, "Columbus Dispatch"
""Whitethorn Woods "is a tour-de-force for Binchy, who seamlessly
inhabits all these narrators and gets their individual voices
pitch-perfect . . . By the time you arrive at the last page, you'll
feel you know virtually everyone in [this] little corner of Ireland
. . . Binchy is in top form."
-Melinda Bargreen, "Seattle Times"
"What could be sweeter than a trip to [an] Irish village packed
with robust native characters? That's exactly what Maeve Binchy
offers in her latest novel . . . Love, longing, and rich scenes of
daily life intertwine in this neatly constructed story."
-Marjorie Kehe, "Christian Science Monitor"
"Stellar Irish novelist Maeve Binchy can display unexpected depths
for a crowd-pleasing author . . . One soon becomes engaged in the
lives of more than two dozen characters . . . Touches of humor
enliven the account, but Binchy's chief stock-in-trade here is
making relatively average lives colorful and worth our
interest."
-Maude McDaniel, "Bookpage"
"In classic Binchy style, many diverse characters tell their own,
sometimes overlapping, stories . . . After [finishing], readers
will want to call their mothers . . . An enjoyable peek into other
people'sthoughts."
-"Library Journal"
"Binchy focuses her prodigious talent on a robust assemblage of
characters embroiled in romantic and domestic crises. Inventively
and intricately weaving a series of linked vignettes, [she]
astounds with the versatility of the supplicants' voices . . .
Binchy is at her best in this tender yet potent tale of a
traditional land and people threatened and challenged by the forces
of change."
-Carol Haggas, "Booklist"
"Binchy deliver[s] a panoply of richly drawn first-person
characters . . . Stories of greed, infidelity, mental illness,
incest, the joys of being single, the struggles of modern career
women, alcoholism, and the heartbreak of parenting span
generations, simply and poignantly. Binchy takes it all in and
orchestrates the whole masterfully."
-"Publishers Weekly"
"Binchy inserts questions of faith into her usual romantic braid of
multiple storylines . . . These are often fully realized stories
that stand on their own . . . Binchy's lilting Irish zest is
undeniably addictive."
-"Kirkus Reviews"
UK reviews:
"What readers are buying into with a Binchy book is a unique
environment: a world of warmth and compassion in which a kind heart
is prized above a pretty face, family life is celebrated and
qualities such as decency and initiative are rewarded. This is the
milieu of her latest novel . . . Binchy has always had a knack for
character . . . It takes a particularly skilful writer to engage
the reader's sympathy [as she does] . . . These characters speak
with their own voices directly off the page."
-Martina Devlin, "The Irish Times"
"Vintage Binchy. A touching, funny, optimistic book full of
wonderful, well-observed characters."
-Wendy Holden, "Daily Mail"
"Binchy [is a] national treasure . . . In "Whitethorn Woods" her
particular gift for creating a world and then drawing you in is
employed with her usual skill [and] just the right combination of
warmth, gossip and insight into human nature . . . Always
maintaining a sense of humour, she effortlessly makes the reader
feel that they are returning to an old friend."
-Mairead Byrne, "Irish Independent"
"For everyone who weaves in and out of these tightly made stories,
a timeless search for love, money or perfect happiness continues to
inject drama into the most humdrum lives . . . The charm is in the
telling, often with the author's tongue held firmly in cheek."
-Aisling Foster, "The Times "(London)
"What never goes out of fashion-and Binchy has it in spades-is the
ability to apply a clever twist to your tale, and to apply it with
such skill and timing that the reader doesn't see it coming . . . A
couple of afternoons in the gentle environs of "Whitethorn Woods"
will not disappoint.
-Sile McArdle, "Sunday Independent "(Ireland)
"Binchy has a special talent for bringing her characters to life
and, in the end, drawing them all together in a very satisfactory
way. An engaging read."
-Sheila Forbes, "Daily News"
"Warm and cosy as a turf fire . . . "Whitethorn Woods "is another
feast for all those who love Maeve Binchy's books."
-Lucille Redmond, "Evening Herald "(Dublin)
"This is Binchy at her mischievous best: tongue-in-cheek, oozing
warmth and humour and evoking a culture and people she knows and
loves. Comfort food indeed."
-Sally Morris, "First "magazine
From Canada:
""WhitethornWoods" is Binchy's best read in a decade . . . In
Binchy's hands the old progress-versus-tradition story takes on new
life . . . Binchy weaves an absorbing web of stories . . . [She]
taps into that mysterious process by which our sense of belonging,
individual and collective, accumulates around particular places and
the stories attached to them . . . Story by story, voice by voice,
Binchy builds the fictional community of Rossmore so that, by the
end of the novel, we know Rossmore's inhabitants better than our
own neighbours . . . It's novelists like Binchy who keep today's
publishing industry going . . . Few contemporary novelists match
Binchy's gift for giving us the world through her characters' eyes
. . . Write on, Maeve. May you continue to delight new generations
of readers."
-Elizabeth Grove-White, Toronto" Globe and Mail" "From the
Hardcover edition."
" Binchy has an accessible, comfortable writing style and fine
storytelling ability . . . [Her] stories of an Ireland in
transition have pleased readers for years."
- Joan Hinkemeyer, "Rocky Mountain News"
" Maeve Binchy is a benevolent god of a novelist . . . "Whitethorn
Woods "draws on her strengths: She can channel Irish voices with
the best of them, and each of those voices has its own twisting
story to tell . . . often with verve and humor."
- Margaret Quamme, "Columbus Dispatch"
" "Whitethorn Woods "is a tour-de-force for Binchy, who seamlessly
inhabits all these narrators and gets their individual voices
pitch-perfect . . . By the time you arrive at the last page, you'
ll feel you know virtually everyone in [this] little corner of
Ireland . . . Binchy is in top form."
- Melinda Bargreen, "Seattle Times"
" What could be sweeter than a trip to [an] Irish village packed
with robust native characters? That' s exactly what Maeve Binchy
offers in her latest novel . . . Love, longing, and rich scenes of
daily life intertwine in this neatly constructed story."
- Marjorie Kehe, "Christian Science Monitor"
" Stellar Irish novelist Maeve Binchy can display unexpected depths
for a crowd-pleasing author . . . One soon becomes engaged in the
lives of more than two dozen characters . . . Touches of humor
enliven the account, but Binchy' s chief stock-in-trade here is
making relatively average lives colorful and worth our
interest."
- Maude McDaniel, "Bookpage"
" In classic Binchy style, many diverse characters tell their own,
sometimesoverlapping, stories . . . After [finishing], readers will
want to call their mothers . . . An enjoyable peek into other
people' s thoughts."
- "Library Journal"
" Binchy focuses her prodigious talent on a robust assemblage of
characters embroiled in romantic and domestic crises. Inventively
and intricately weaving a series of linked vignettes, [she]
astounds with the versatility of the supplicants' voices . . .
Binchy is at her best in this tender yet potent tale of a
traditional land and people threatened and challenged by the forces
of change."
- Carol Haggas, "Booklist"
" Binchy deliver[s] a panoply of richly drawn first-person
characters . . . Stories of greed, infidelity, mental illness,
incest, the joys of being single, the struggles of modern career
women, alcoholism, and the heartbreak of parenting span
generations, simply and poignantly. Binchy takes it all in and
orchestrates the whole masterfully."
- "Publishers Weekly"
" Binchy inserts questions of faith into her usual romantic braid
of multiple storylines . . . These are often fully realized stories
that stand on their own . . . Binchy' s lilting Irish zest is
undeniably addictive."
- "Kirkus Reviews"
UK reviews:
" What readers are buying into with a Binchy book is a unique
environment: a world of warmth and compassion in which a kind heart
is prized above a pretty face, family life is celebrated and
qualities such as decency and initiative are rewarded. This is the
milieu of her latest novel . . . Binchy has always had a knack for
character . . . It takes a particularly skilful writer to engage
thereader' s sympathy [as she does] . . . These characters speak
with their own voices directly off the page."
- Martina Devlin, "The Irish Times"
" Vintage Binchy. A touching, funny, optimistic book full of
wonderful, well-observed characters."
- Wendy Holden, "Daily Mail"
" Binchy [is a] national treasure . . . In "Whitethorn Woods" her
particular gift for creating a world and then drawing you in is
employed with her usual skill [and] just the right combination of
warmth, gossip and insight into human nature . . . Always
maintaining a sense of humour, she effortlessly makes the reader
feel that they are returning to an old friend."
- Mairead Byrne, "Irish Independent"
" For everyone who weaves in and out of these tightly made stories,
a timeless search for love, money or perfect happiness continues to
inject drama into the most humdrum lives . . . The charm is in the
telling, often with the author' s tongue held firmly in cheek."
- Aisling Foster, "The Times "(London)
" What never goes out of fashion- and Binchy has it in spades- is
the ability to apply a clever twist to your tale, and to apply it
with such skill and timing that the reader doesn' t see it coming .
. . A couple of afternoons in the gentle environs of "Whitethorn
Woods" will not disappoint.
- Sile McArdle, "Sunday Independent "(Ireland)
" Binchy has a special talent for bringing her characters to life
and, in the end, drawing them all together in a very satisfactory
way. An engaging read."
- Sheila Forbes, "Daily News"
" Warm and cosy as aturf fire . . . "Whitethorn Woods "is another
feast for all those who love Maeve Binchy' s books."
- Lucille Redmond, "Evening Herald "(Dublin)
" This is Binchy at her mischievous best: tongue-in-cheek, oozing
warmth and humour and evoking a culture and people she knows and
loves. Comfort food indeed."
- Sally Morris, "First "magazine
From Canada:
" "Whitethorn Woods" is Binchy' s best read in a decade . . . In
Binchy' s hands the old progress-versus-tradition story takes on
new life . . . Binchy weaves an absorbing web of stories . . .
[She] taps into that mysterious process by which our sense of
belonging, individual and collective, accumulates around particular
places and the stories attached to them . . . Story by story, voice
by voice, Binchy builds the fictional community of Rossmore so
that, by the end of the novel, we know Rossmore' s inhabitants
better than our own neighbours . . . It' s novelists like Binchy
who keep today' s publishing industry going . . . Few contemporary
novelists match Binchy' s gift for giving us the world through her
characters' eyes . . . Write on, Maeve. May you continue to delight
new generations of readers."
- Elizabeth Grove-White, Toronto" Globe and Mail" "From the
Hardcover edition."
Aproposed highway near the Irish town of Rossmore will mean the destruction of St. Ann's Well, a shrine in Whitethorn Woods thought to deliver healing, husbands and other miracles. The shrine resides in the parish of Fr. Brian Flynn, curate of St. Augustine's. As a fracas erupts between shrine skeptics who want the highway and shrine believers who want the shrine preserved, Flynn, unsure of where he stands on the issue and questioning his place in an increasingly secular Ireland, goes to the shrine and prays that he might "hear the voices that have come to you and know who these people are." Binchy (Tara Road) goes on to deliver just that: a panoply of prosaic but richly drawn first-person characters, such as Neddy Nolan, a not-so-simple simpleton; 60-something Vera, who finds love on a singles trip meant for those much younger; and unassuming antiques magnate James, whose wife of 26 years is dying. Stories of greed, infidelity, mental illness, incest, the joys of being single, the struggles of modern career women, alcoholism, and the heartbreak of parenting span generations, simply and poignantly. Binchy takes it all in and orchestrates the whole masterfully. 400,000 announced first printing. (Mar.) Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information.
"A tour de force.... Binchy is in top form." --"The Seattle
Times"
"What could be sweeter than a trip to [an] Irish village packed
with robust native characters? That's exactly what Maeve Binchy
offers in her latest novel." --"The Christian Science Monitor"
""Whitethorn Woods" is Binchy's best read in a decade.... Few
contemporary novelists match Binchy's gift for giving us the world
through her characters' eyes."
--"The Globe and Mail "
"Binchy has an accessible, comfortable writing style and fine
storytelling ability."
--"Rocky Mountain News"
"Binchy's best read in a decade. " --"The Globe and Mail"
"A remarkably gifted writer [and] a wonderful student of human
nature." --"The New York Times Book Review"
"Love, longing, and rich scenes of daily life.... What could be
sweeter than a trip to [an] Irish village packed with robust native
characters." --"The Christian Science Monitor"
"Binchy makes you laugh, cry and care."""--"San Francisco
Chronicle"
"Binchy is a grand storyteller in the finest Irish tradition....
She writes from the heart."
--"The Plain Dealer"
"An engaging read." -- "Daily News"
"Binchy can channel Irish voices with the best of them, and each of
those voices has its own twisting story to tell."
-- "The Columbus Dispatch"
"Reading one of Maeve Binchy's novels is like coming home."
-- "The Washington Post"
"Binchy has an accessible, comfortable writing style and fine
storytelling ability . . . [Her] stories of an Ireland in
transition have pleased readers for years."
-Joan Hinkemeyer, "Rocky Mountain News"
"Maeve Binchy is a benevolent god of a novelist . . . "Whitethorn
Woods "draws on her strengths: She can channel Irish voices with
the best of them, and each of those voices has its own twisting
story to tell . . . often with verve and humor."
-Margaret Quamme, "Columbus Dispatch"
""Whitethorn Woods "is a tour-de-force for Binchy, who seamlessly
inhabits all these narrators and gets their individual voices
pitch-perfect . . . By the time you arrive at the last page, you'll
feel you know virtually everyone in [this] little corner of Ireland
. . . Binchy is in top form."
-Melinda Bargreen, "Seattle Times"
"What could be sweeter than a trip to [an] Irish village packed
with robust native characters? That's exactly what Maeve Binchy
offers in her latest novel . . . Love, longing, and rich scenes of
daily life intertwine in this neatly constructed story."
-Marjorie Kehe, "Christian Science Monitor"
"Stellar Irish novelist Maeve Binchy can display unexpected depths
for a crowd-pleasing author . . . One soon becomes engaged in the
lives of more than two dozen characters . . . Touches of humor
enliven the account, but Binchy's chief stock-in-trade here is
making relatively average lives colorful and worth our
interest."
-Maude McDaniel, "Bookpage"
"In classic Binchy style, many diverse characters tell their own,
sometimes overlapping, stories . . . After [finishing], readers
will want to call their mothers . . . An enjoyable peek into other
people'sthoughts."
-"Library Journal"
"Binchy focuses her prodigious talent on a robust assemblage of
characters embroiled in romantic and domestic crises. Inventively
and intricately weaving a series of linked vignettes, [she]
astounds with the versatility of the supplicants' voices . . .
Binchy is at her best in this tender yet potent tale of a
traditional land and people threatened and challenged by the forces
of change."
-Carol Haggas, "Booklist"
"Binchy deliver[s] a panoply of richly drawn first-person
characters . . . Stories of greed, infidelity, mental illness,
incest, the joys of being single, the struggles of modern career
women, alcoholism, and the heartbreak of parenting span
generations, simply and poignantly. Binchy takes it all in and
orchestrates the whole masterfully."
-"Publishers Weekly"
"Binchy inserts questions of faith into her usual romantic braid of
multiple storylines . . . These are often fully realized stories
that stand on their own . . . Binchy's lilting Irish zest is
undeniably addictive."
-"Kirkus Reviews"
UK reviews:
"What readers are buying into with a Binchy book is a unique
environment: a world of warmth and compassion in which a kind heart
is prized above a pretty face, family life is celebrated and
qualities such as decency and initiative are rewarded. This is the
milieu of her latest novel . . . Binchy has always had a knack for
character . . . It takes a particularly skilful writer to engage
the reader's sympathy [as she does] . . . These characters speak
with their own voices directly off the page."
-Martina Devlin, "The Irish Times"
"Vintage Binchy. A touching, funny, optimistic book full of
wonderful, well-observed characters."
-Wendy Holden, "Daily Mail"
"Binchy [is a] national treasure . . . In "Whitethorn Woods" her
particular gift for creating a world and then drawing you in is
employed with her usual skill [and] just the right combination of
warmth, gossip and insight into human nature . . . Always
maintaining a sense of humour, she effortlessly makes the reader
feel that they are returning to an old friend."
-Mairead Byrne, "Irish Independent"
"For everyone who weaves in and out of these tightly made stories,
a timeless search for love, money or perfect happiness continues to
inject drama into the most humdrum lives . . . The charm is in the
telling, often with the author's tongue held firmly in cheek."
-Aisling Foster, "The Times "(London)
"What never goes out of fashion-and Binchy has it in spades-is the
ability to apply a clever twist to your tale, and to apply it with
such skill and timing that the reader doesn't see it coming . . . A
couple of afternoons in the gentle environs of "Whitethorn Woods"
will not disappoint.
-Sile McArdle, "Sunday Independent "(Ireland)
"Binchy has a special talent for bringing her characters to life
and, in the end, drawing them all together in a very satisfactory
way. An engaging read."
-Sheila Forbes, "Daily News"
"Warm and cosy as a turf fire . . . "Whitethorn Woods "is another
feast for all those who love Maeve Binchy's books."
-Lucille Redmond, "Evening Herald "(Dublin)
"This is Binchy at her mischievous best: tongue-in-cheek, oozing
warmth and humour and evoking a culture and people she knows and
loves. Comfort food indeed."
-Sally Morris, "First "magazine
From Canada:
""WhitethornWoods" is Binchy's best read in a decade . . . In
Binchy's hands the old progress-versus-tradition story takes on new
life . . . Binchy weaves an absorbing web of stories . . . [She]
taps into that mysterious process by which our sense of belonging,
individual and collective, accumulates around particular places and
the stories attached to them . . . Story by story, voice by voice,
Binchy builds the fictional community of Rossmore so that, by the
end of the novel, we know Rossmore's inhabitants better than our
own neighbours . . . It's novelists like Binchy who keep today's
publishing industry going . . . Few contemporary novelists match
Binchy's gift for giving us the world through her characters' eyes
. . . Write on, Maeve. May you continue to delight new generations
of readers."
-Elizabeth Grove-White, Toronto" Globe and Mail"
"From the Hardcover edition."
"From the Hardcover edition."
Ask a Question About this Product More... |