Circle of Friends by Maeve Binchy

Big generous-hearted Benny and the elfin Eve Malone have been best friends throughout their childhoods in sleepy Knockglen. When they both go to study in Dublin, they meet a circle of friends that includes handsome Jack Foley and the selfish but beautiful Nan Mahon - whose ambitions will drag them all into trouble.

As Knockglen is surprised into new life the two girls, Benny and Eve, discover that among the many distractions of growing up true friendship is the greatest gift of all.

The joy of a Maeve Binchy novel - and Circle of Friends is no exception (in fact, is probably the best example of this) - is that you are utterly drawn into the lives of the characters. Binchy doesn't concern herself with a clever plot (here, the essence of the plot is that Benny and Eve head off to university in Dublin, and deals with the repercussions of what happens after this); rather, she wants to describe how her characters deal with life. There are never lengthy descriptions of place - dialogue is the manner in which Binchy drives her story.

So, if Binchy had been unable to write dialogue, her novels would fail in a big way. Luckily, Binchy has an absolutely unerring ear for dialogue. Her characters talk so naturally, to the point that reading Circle of Friends feels like evesdropping on a conversation between real people.

I particularly love Circle of Friends because it is a true coming of age story - two girls leaving a sleepy village and dealing with the bright lights of Dublin. Finding themselves; discovering new friends, but learning that their true and strong friendship is the best thing by far to help them survive the trials and tribulations of their new life.

In addition to this, Benny has to try and extract herself from a constricting home life to find the freedom necessary to enjoy her new life. I really appreciated this aspect of the story, since I think many young people are familiar with the idea of parents not wanting to let go and still trying to exert control over their children. Benny's frustrations were written with a ring of truth.

Maeve Binchy's novel are like a literary hug - warm and gentle, with a surprising wit and wisdom, and I think that Circle of Friends is the best of them.

The Glass Lake by Maeve Binchy

Kit McMahon is a young girl living in the small village of Lough Glass, where everyone knows each other. She is believed to live a charmed life - has a doting mother and father, a brother she gets on well with, many friends (including the shallow but vivacious Clio Kelly). One night Kit's mother Helen goes out walking and never comes back - after months of searching, a body is found and Kit mourns the mother she has lost. At the same time we start following the story of Lena Gray in London, an up-and-coming businesswoman who loves Louis Gray with an intense and dangerous passion. The lives of Lena and Kit eventually collide with explosive results, leaving Kit considering hard the very nature of love.

Maeve Binchy novels are a gem whenever I need to reignite my passion for reading. They are long and rambling and gentle - incredibly cosy reads that require little true attention and merely pull the reader in for a time to the lives of these smalltown Irish folk. I adore them. That being said, The Glass Lake is a curious example - it's probably the Binchy I have read the most, and yet, after this read, I'm wondering exactly why this would be...

The main reason for this is that the central premise - which I gobbled up with delight as a youngster, and found extremely credible - is actually pretty far-fetched. I mean, Binchy sets it up pretty well and it does come as a result of some fairly disastrous decisions that seem almost reasonable, but, on this occasion, I found myself wondering how this central premise could possibly have ACTUALLY happened. I think I am looking at the novel from a) more modern eyes and b) the perspective of someone who has no real experience of Catholic religious beliefs. Possibly others would find the premise easier to swallow.

On top of this, there are some really horrible characters in this novel. Kit herself is fine - she's energetic and decisive and has a strong moral compass. The cast surrounding her are less sympathetic for the reader - we have a love rat, a doormat, a stuck-up so-called best friend *sighs* Just thinking about them makes me both frustrated and angry! I wanted to shake them and tell them to sort their lives out.

There was also an inadvised subplot involving a character called Sister Madeleine, which seemed to sit uneasily alongside the rest of the novel and could have been excised to make this a more streamlined tale.

So why did I read it so compulsively? Literally gulping it down? Because of Maeve Binchy's warmth. Her writing is exquisite in terms of carrying a reader along - beautifully simple and direct prose that wraps me like a warm blanket in front of a roaring fire. I think in all seriousness that, with Binchy's hand on the pen, I would quite happily read a shopping list she'd written! There is just something about her novels that make me smile - reading for the pure sake of enjoyment (which is something that occasionally becomes a little tough as a reviewer).

I would urge people with the desire to read something gentle, but with incisive observations on human nature, to pick up a Maeve Binchy novel. The Glass Lake is not her best, but is still a fine example.

Echoes by Maeve Binchy

The village of Castlebay is a tiny little place atop some cliffs on the coast of Ireland. In the summer visitors flock to the little caravan park and the houses for rent, but in the winter the place is deathly quiet. In the late fifties three restless children grow up together in Castlebay: Clare, the daughter of the shopkeeper, who works and works to earn a scholarship to college; David, the son of the doctor, destined to follow in his father's footsteps but dreaming of much more; and Gerry, dark and gypsy-like, and a total heart-breaker. Echoes follows their stories as they intertwine over the next decade - they all manage to break free of the paths set by their parents, but will they ever escape the echo of their past?

I read Maeve Binchy for the comfort - the falling into a different pace of life, where villagers gossip to each other, and often marrying right is the only ambition a girl might have. At the same time as being slightly frustrated at the backwards attitudes on show, I like to reflect on how such a short time ago abortions were completely taboo, women didn't study and classes mattered so much more than they do these days.

Echoes is a different breed of Binchy - rather than the usually uplifting and ultimately hopeful tale she tells, this is a dark and disturbed tale in the most part. The ending is truly tragic and few of the characters are very likable.

I struggled to read to the end - it felt akin to watching Eastenders or Coronation Street (unnecessarily bleak and gloomy). When your escapist go-to comfort read is a little too much like real life, it becomes less escapism and more realism.

Having said that, I enjoyed Binchy's portrayal of life in what seems to be a foreign land. The idea of a village who couldn't accept a priest who had decided to marry; the fact that gay people were referred to in horrified terms; the way that post-natal depression is laughed away (how can any woman be depressed when she has achieved what God intended her to do?) It is almost a form of historical research, since Binchy shows easily the fishbowl view of living in a village.

This particular quote emphasises the attitudes of the time: "Don't boast of it, you little tramp. Don't stand there like a slut in my kitchen and tell me what you were eager for and what you weren't. You've ruined us all in this family. We'll be the laughing stock of the place - marrying into the Powers no less. Do you think that Mrs Power is going to let the likes of you cross her doorstep? Do you think that woman is going to let her son, with the fine education he has, marry a girl from a shop in Castlebay?"

As I said, there are very few truly likable characters - even the best of them have moments where you wish you could throw the book across the room because of their manners, or beliefs, or actions. I never like adultery in a book, and the occurrence of it in Echoes is particularly heart-breaking, which made it very hard to endure.

I wasn't a fan of the story. I enjoyed the writing and enjoyed the historical relevance of the novel, but the actual plot and characters let Echoes down in a big way. If you're going for a Maeve Binchy novel for the comfort, I would suggest either Circle of Friends or Firefly Summer. If you do happen to like dark and bleak sagas with a heavy dose of tragedy, then this should prove very satisfactory.

Firefly Summer by Maeve Binchy

Firefly Summer tells the story of the sleepy town of Mountfern, as an American, Patrick O'Brian, comes home to find his roots and build a huge hotel on the ruined location of the old house. It explores the changing relationships of the townsfolk as a tragic accident divides Mountfern. There is not masses of plot in the book; rather, it builds a picture of Irish village life in the 1950s as we spend a few years with the family of Ryans who own the public house.

Maeve Binchy's books are incredibly easy reading - a little old-fashioned and incredibly gossipy. We drift into the village of Mountfern, and are gradually introduced to the various people who live in the village. Binchy has such a deft touch in showing each of the characters through random encounters and conversations, so that we are able to discover them without any resort to the dreaded info-dump. It genuinely feels as though a friend is having a coffee with you and telling you about mutual friends' lives.

I like the fact that Binchy doesn't flinch away from presenting the horrors of a mundane life - those issues that anyone could be afflicted by, such as adultery, alcoholism and disability. It gives the novel a sense of realism.

Binchy's true strength is dialogue and human relationships - she has a unique understanding of women and their friendships.

In fact, the only element of the book that I found slightly dissatisfying was the fact that Binchy doesn't show men in the best light. Most of them are having affairs, or beating their wives, or running off to other counties. There are some decent men, but it is extremely noticeable that there are more bad men than good.

Binchy is the forerunner of such authors as Sheila O'Flanagan, Patricia Scanlan and Marian Keyes - showcasing Irish life with gentle humour and understanding. I love her books and they are ideal for those times when you require something easy and undemanding. I would recommend these on a winter's afternoon, when you're tucked next to a roaring fire with a hot chocolate - the feel of the novel is exactly right for those moments. Enjoyable.