The Copper Beech

Maeve Binchy is a master storyteller * NEW YORK TIMES * You want to read Maeve Binchy's books as fast as she seems to have written them. This one fairly gallops along because her apparently spontaneous and casual manner covers masterly plotting ... It is all very satisfactory * INDEPENDENT * THE COPPER BEECH is as soothing as a cup of tea * PEOPLE * Binchy makes you laugh, cry, and care. Her warmth and sympathy render the daily struggles of ordinary people heroic and turn storytelling into art * SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE * Maeve Binchy's marvellous portrait of a small Irish town whose untroubled surface conceals the passions, rivalries, friendships, ambitions and jealousies beneath * LOVE READING * Binchy is a consummate storyteller who involves the reader in the world she creates ... Binchy is a Dickens: she writes about the dilemmas of human beings with a backdrop which describes the manners and morals of a society ... the Binchy public will not be disappointed at story line or resolution * IRISH TIMES * Binchy ... is a class act * DAILY EXPRESS * Maeve Binchy's novels are just the kind of comforting companions so many women can't wait to take to bed. ...Binchy's prose flows as naturally as conversation with a good friend * THE LADY * Maeve Binchy's work continues to inspire ... thought-provoking, warm and funny in equal measure * WOMAN * This is Binchy at her very best, telling stories with charm, humour and pathos and giving us one of the most stunning feel-good endings I can remember * MAIL ON SUNDAY *

Maeve Binchy was born in County Dublin and educated at the Holy Child convent in Killiney and at University College, Dublin. After a spell as a teacher she joined the Irish Times. Her first novel, LIGHT A PENNY CANDLE, was published in 1982 and she went on to write over twenty books, all of them bestsellers. Several have been adapted for cinema and television, including TARA ROAD. Maeve Binchy received a LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD at the BRITISH BOOK AWARDS in 1999 and the Irish PEN/A. T. CROSS AWARD in 2007. In 2010 she was presented with the BOB HUGHES LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD at the BORD GAIS IRISH BOOK AWARDS by the President of Ireland. She was married to the writer and broadcaster Gordon Snell for 35 years, and died in 2012. Visit her website at www.maevebinchy.com