Maeve Binchy

In the Irish town of Schancarrig, the young carve their initials -- and those of their loves-into the copper beech tree in front of the schoolhouse. But not even Father Gunn, the parish priest, who knows most of what goes on behind Shancarrig's closed doors, or Dr. Jims, the village doctor, who knows all the rest, realizes that not everything in the placid village is what it seems.

Friendship, love, and misplaced hope drive the characters who populate a new collection of Maeve Binchy stories.

"Maeve Binchy, the grand story teller, returns with a cast of characters you will never forget when they all spend a winter week together on holiday at Stone House, a restful inn by the sea... Stoneybridge is a small town on the coast of Ireland where all the families know each other. When Chicky decides to take an old decaying mansion, Stone House, and turn it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea, the town thinks she is crazy. Follows the...

"While she was writing columns for The Irish Times and her best-selling novels, Maeve Binchy also had in mind to write a book that revolved around one street with many characters coming and going. Every once in a while, she would write about one these people. She would then put it in a drawer. "For the future," she would say. The future is now. Just around the corner from St. Jarlath's Crescent (which readers will recognize from Minding Frankie) is...

Set in Lough Glass, Ireland, The Glass Lake is an incandescent novel of family love, belonging, and secrets that flourish in the human heart. Lough Glass is the lake at the heart of the small Irish town that bears its name. Serene and dark, its waters harbor secrets as deep and unfathomable as Helen McMahon, the beautiful woman who roams the darkened shores night after night.