The wonderful books of Maeve Binchy have come to an end with her death last July in Ireland.  This last delightful book, A Week in Winter was finished just a few weeks prior to her becoming ill. Those of us who are her fans will miss her common sense and creative approach to life’s obstacles and trauma.   Maeve has written about every kind of personality imaginable in her Irish tales.  Her stories unite characters bringing support to each other and finding answers to difficulties.  Whether it be divorce, unwanted pregnancy, lover’s who run off, death, senility, Maeve’s characters learn to journey on.

In her last novel we are experiencing the windswept coast of western Ireland where Chicky is turning an old estate into a bed and breakfast.  She has returned to her home town after many years in New York hiding the fact that her love deserted her after convincing her to leave home.  The following chapters each tell the story of a person who finds themselves at Stone House that first week.
Maeve was a journalist for the Irish Times for many years.  When interviewed about her books she shared this bit of philosophy that was evident in her wonderful books, “I don’t think you’re happier if you’re thin or beautiful or rich or married. You have to make your own happiness,” Binchy told Australia’s Illawarra Mercury newspaper in 2000. “My heroines do not become beautiful elegant swans, they become confident ducks and get on with life.”