Maeve Binchy Books

EVENING CLASS The Italian evening class at Mountainview School is like hundreds of others all over Dublin. But this class has its own special quality - as the focus for the varied hopes and dreams of teacher and pupils alike. By the time the pupils set off on a grand trip to Italy, a surprising number of them have found more than the Italian language in the evening class. THE COPPER BEECH Shancarrig School stands in the shade of a glorious old copper beech whose colours tell the passing of the seasons and the years: a tree that has watched over many young lives. Here is a delightful story of the lives, loves and dreams of the people who pass below its branches. TARA ROAD Ria and Marilyn have never met - they live thousands of miles apart, one in Tara Road, Dublin, the other in New England. When each needs a place to escape to, a house exchange seems an ideal solution. Along with the borrowed houses come gossip and speculation, and friendship, as Ria and Marilyn swap lives for the summer...

Dublin 4: A society hostess invites her husband’s mistress to dinner. A country girl savours the delights of city life. A student faces the dilemma of unmarried pregnancy. A drink-ridden photographer tries to relaunch a shattered career. Dublin 4 has all of Maeve Binchy’s intimate grasp of human feelings, her marvellous ear for dialogue and her subtle sense of life’s confusion. The stories bubble with fun and wit — yet sometimes leave a taste of sadness. Victoria Line Central Every day, millions of people travel on London’s Underground, yet everyday life is not nearly as mundane as we think. At Notting Hill, the secretary, harbouring her secrets travels to work; at Highbury and Islington, Adam has a sudden change of heart; at Holborn, a disastrous reunion is about to take place. With her characteristic mix of humour and biting realism, Maeve Binchy enters the lives of ordinary people. The Lilac Bus is a collection of interrelated short stories by the writer Maeve Binchy, first published in 1984. The stories were later republished, along with the earlier collection Dublin 4, in The Lilac Stories.

THE COPPER BEECH By the school house at Shancarrig stands a copper beech, its bark scarred with the names and dreams of the pupils who have grown up under its branches. This tree is the gateway to Maeve Binchy's marvelous portrait of a small Irish town whose untroubled surface conceals the passions, rivalries, friendships, ambitions and jealousies beneath. EVENING CLASS Among the many evening classes starting all over Dublin is an 'Introduction to Italian'. On the surface it could be just one of hundreds in which some students will succeed and some will fall along the way. But the Italian class at Mountainview School has its own special quality, and the hopes and dreams of many people are tied up in the twice weekly lessons.

"Thirty people join an Italian evening class. All have their own reasons. Connie needs to escape from an unhappy home life ; Lou has criminal intentions. Aidan and Signora have organized the classes. All their lives are changed forever." - back cover.

Fresh from cooking school, Tom Feather and Cathy Scarlet are hot new additions to the Dublin scene with their new catering company, but some people in the city, including their families, are not so keen on the idea of their success. Reprint.

In the Irish town of Schancarrig, the young people carve their initials—and those of their loves-into the copper beech tree in front of the schoolhouse. But not even Father Gunn, the parish priest, who knows most of what goes on behind Shancarrig's closed doors, or Dr. Jims, the village doctor, who knows all the rest, realizes that not everything in the placid village is what it seems.

The story of the friendship between Benny and Eve through their childhood in Knockglen and their days as students in Dublin.

Every table at Quentins Restaurant has a thousand stories to tell: tales of love, betrayal and revenge. Ella Brady wants to make a documentary about the renowned Dublin restaurant that has captured the spirit of a generation and a city in the years it has been open. In Maeve Binchy's magical QUENTINS you will meet new friends and old: the twins from SCARLET FEATHER, the Signora from EVENING CLASS, Ria from TARA ROAD - and a host of fresh faces. There is Monica, the ever-cheerful Australian waitress, and Blouse Brennan, whose simplicity disguises a sharp mind and a heart of gold. Presiding over Quentins are Patrick and Brenda Brennan, who have made the restaurant such a legend. But even they have a story and a sadness which is hidden from the public gaze. As Ella uncovers more of what has gone on, she wonders about the wisdom of bringing it to the screen. Should the restaurant keep its secrets?

An account of four fateful years in the life of a small Irish town, and in particular of the family who run the local pub. The novel features interlocking stories of loves lost and won, hopes raised and dashed, ambitions nurtured and secrets betrayed.