About the Author

Maeve Binchy was born in Co Dublin in 1940 and was educated at the Holy Child Convent in Killiney and at UCD. After a spell as a teacher in various girls schools, she joined the Irish Times. Her first novel, Light a Penny Candle, was published in 1982, and each one of Binchy's twenty-one novels and short-story collections were bestsellers. Several have been adapted for cinema and television, most notably Circle of Friends in 1995. Binchy was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Book Awards in 1999; and at the Bord Gais Energy Irish Book Awards ceremony in 2010 she was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award by the then President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. Sadly and much-mourned, Maeve Binchy died in July 2012.