Windsor Selection S.
5 total works
Centering arond the MacMahon family, a tragic, touching, tangled story of love set in typical Binchy type town in Ireland,this is the best so far from this successful writer.
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. Under Junior Assistant Mistress Maddy Ross's careful gaze the children play, but out of school Maddy's gaze lingers where it shouldn't. Maura Brennan, a bundle of fun from the rough end of town, plays with her pals: leap year baby Eddie Barton, the apple of his mother's eye, and Nessa Ryan, who little realises as she carves his name at the roots of the copper beech on the very last day of school that she'll get a lot more from one of her schoolmates than her first shy kiss. The copper beech is the gateway to Maeve Binchy's marvellous portrait of a small Irish town whose untroubled surface conceals the passions, rivalries, friendships, ambitions and jealousies beneath.
This is a collection of six interlinked stories about a family preparing for the parent's silver wedding anniversary and the skeletons this drags from the cupboard. Gradually, as the stories develop, it becomes obvious that the marriage is far from happy and the anniversary itself a sham. Maeve Binchy also wrote "Light a Penny Candle", "Echoes", "Firefly Summer", "Dublin" and "London Transport".
Every table at Quentins restaurant has a thousand stories to tell: tales of love, betrayal and revenge, of hope and despair. The staff who come and go have stories of their own, and the restaurant itself has had times when it looked set fair for success and others when it seemed as if it must close in failure. 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, 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. The whole place is presided over by the apparently imperturbable Patrick and Brenda Brennan, who have made Quentins 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. Are there some stories which are too sacred to be told?Should the restaurant keep its secrets?
Scarlet Feather is set in contemporary Dublin, and is the story of Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather, who go into business together as caterers. Tom is the son of a builder and his fanatically devout wife, both of whom are disappointed that he hasn't joined the family building firm. Cathy's father is an inveterately optimistic gambler on the horses, and her mother, Lizzie, is a domestic cleaner. In particular Lizzie cleans the house of Cathy's mother-in-law, the fearsome Hannah Mitchell. Hannah is furious that her clever lawyer son, Neil, should have married her maid's daughter, and is even more outraged when Cathy sets up Scarlet Feather with Tom. Tom's hopelessly obsessive love for his beautiful, ambitious model girlfriend, Marcella, and Cathy's increasingly distant marriage to Neil, form the heart of the emotional tangles in the story. Against a background of hilarious catering triumphs and disasters, these key relationships begin to crumble, and the aphrodisiac of shared business trials and tribulations starts its inevitable work on Cathy and Tom.
Meanwhile, around them, a magical supporting cast of classic Binchy characters weaves its spell: a comically dreadful but endearing set of twin children; a lonely man looking for the foster daughter he had to hand back to her real parents years earlier; the glamorous aunt whose financial backing of Scarlet Feather has a dubious source. These and many more wend their way through a story of love and heartbreak and laughter - Maeve Binchy at her most beguiling.
Meanwhile, around them, a magical supporting cast of classic Binchy characters weaves its spell: a comically dreadful but endearing set of twin children; a lonely man looking for the foster daughter he had to hand back to her real parents years earlier; the glamorous aunt whose financial backing of Scarlet Feather has a dubious source. These and many more wend their way through a story of love and heartbreak and laughter - Maeve Binchy at her most beguiling.