Maeve's Times: In Her Own Words

Maeve's Times: In Her Own Words

Maeve Binchy, Gordon Snell (Introduction by)
$15.95
Publication Date: July 21st, 2015
Publisher:
Anchor
ISBN:
9780804172769
Pages:
400

Description

Five decades of selected writings from the Irish Times by the beloved and best-selling author, filled with her hallmark humor, candor, and wisdom-a timeless gift to her legion of fans.

Maeve Binchy once confessed: "As someone who fell off a chair not long ago trying to hear what they were saying at the next table in a restaurant, I suppose I am obsessively interested in what some might consider the trivia of other people's lives." She was an accidental journalist, yet from the beginning, her writings reflected the warmth, wit, and keen human interest that readers would come to love in her fiction. From the royal wedding to boring airplane companions, Samuel Beckett to Margaret Thatcher, "senior moments" to life as a waitress, Maeve's Times gives us wonderful insight into a changing Ireland as it celebrates the work of one of our best-loved writers in all its diversity-revealing her characteristic directness, laugh-out-loud humor, and unswerving gaze into the true heart of a matter.

“Binchy’s wry, self-effacing style reminds one of a Celtic Nora Ephron. . . . [She] throws a spotlight on strong, imperfect women confronting complicated challenges.” —The Christian Science Monitor

About the Author

MAEVE BINCHY was born in County Dublin and educated at the Holy Child convent in Killiney and at University College, Dublin. After a spell as a teacher she joined The Irish Times. Her first novel, Light a Penny Candle, was published in 1982, and she went on to write more than twenty books, all of them best sellers. Several have been adapted for film and television, most notably Circle of Friends and Tara Road, which was an Oprah’s Book Club selection. She was married to the writer and broadcaster Gordon Snell for thirty-five years, and died in 2012 at the age of seventy-two.

www.maevebinchy.com

Praise for Maeve's Times: In Her Own Words

“Binchy’s innate ability to find that common thread that unites us in our humanity is front and center.” —USA Today

“Wonderfully clear, caring and humorous prose. . . . Maeve’s fresh voice and spirit are captured in these pieces.” —Buffalo News

“Binchy’s wry, self-effacing style reminds one of a Celtic Nora Ephron. . . . [She] throws a spotlight on strong, imperfect women confronting complicated challenges.” —The Christian Science Monitor

 “Brimming with Binchy’s intelligence, incisive wit, straightforwardness and incomparable charm.” —Burnley Express

“A brilliant anthology. . . . Maeve Binchy the journalist always had something meaningful to say, just as much so in 1964 as in 2011. . . . If you’re among the few people on this planet who have never read a Maeve Binchy book, start with Maeve’s Times. Then you’ll truly understand how the outstanding reporter formed the iconic novelist.” —Bookreporter.com 

“Like the best journalism, Maeve's newspaper pieces stand the test of time.” —Irish Independent

“Binchy’s trademark warmth, humor, and humanity characterize this volume. . . . Record[s] an intelligent woman's perspective on a changing world, and offer[s] entertaining glimpses of biography that Binchy fans will adore." —Publishers Weekly

“Delightful. . . [A] warm, down-to-earth collection . . . Fans of the author’s novels will enjoy learning more about her early life and about an earlier Ireland.” —Library Journal

“This collection of Binchy’s trademark columns celebrates her unabashed delight in the human condition. . . . For the legions of fans who mourned her passing, this revelatory collection of essays brings a little of their cherished Maeve back, and then some.” —Booklist

“A blithe, entertaining collection that will surely delight Binchy's many fans.” —Kirkus Reviews