by Maeve Binchy
First published 1994
This collection brings together Maeve Binchy's finest short fiction spanning her career. The stories transport readers to the warm neighborhoods of Dublin and small Irish towns where ordinary people navigate love, friendship, and family drama. Binchy introduces characters like lonely shopkeepers finding unexpected romance, mothers wrestling with grown children's choices, and neighbors whose lives intersect in surprising ways. Each tale reveals how small moments can shift everything. A chance encounter at a bus stop leads to marriage. A misunderstanding between sisters fractures a family. A retired teacher discovers purpose through helping troubled students. Binchy writes with her signature warmth and humor, finding hope in human connections that bridge differences of age, class, and circumstance.
Genres: fiction, anthologies, family-life, irish-literature, 20th-century, contemporary, adult-fiction, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking, warm
Tropes: found-family, slice-of-life
Setting: Dublin, Ireland
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
576 pages · Hardcover · Bloomsbury Books