“Nowadays women realize that they are dealt a hand of cards and must play it. There are no makeovers in my books. The ugly duckling does not become a beautiful swan…she becomes a confident duck….” ~Maeve Binchy 1999
The Irish Times announced the death of best-selling author Maeve Binchy early this week. She was 72 when she died from illness at a Dublin hospital.
Binchy was a journalist and teacher before publishing her first novel in 1982. In total she wrote 16 novels, which have been translated into many languages and have sold tens of millions of copies. According to The New York Times, her novels were best known for portraying Irish women “confronting all manner of adversity.” Her novels often depicted women’s friendships, Irish village life and its social stratification, faithless lovers, alcoholism, and even murder. Fans described her novels as “Dicksensian,” possibly referring to the fascinating characters “like poor country girl Benny Hogan in “Circle of Friends” and struggling Cathy Scarlet in “Scarlet Feather.”
Two of her novels have been made into films such as “Circle of Friends” starring Minnie Driver. A posthumous novel, “A Week in Winter,” is scheduled to be published this year.
