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Maeve Binchy

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Maeve Binchy
Binchy in 2006
Binchy in 2006
BornAnne Maeve Binchy
(1939-05-28)28 May 1939
Dublin, Ireland
Died30 July 2012(2012-07-30) (aged 73)
Dublin, Ireland
OccupationWriter
LanguageEnglish
Alma materUniversity College Dublin
Period1978–2012
Genre
Literary movementPost-war Irish fiction
Notable works
Notable awards
Spouse
​
(m. 1977)​
Relatives

Anne Maeve Binchy Snell (28 May 1939[1] – 30 July 2012) was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, columnist, and speaker. Her novels were characterised by a sympathetic and often humorous portrayal of small-town life in Ireland, and surprise endings.[2][3] Her novels, which were translated into 37 languages, sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. Her death at age 73, announced by Vincent Browne on Irish television late on 30 July 2012, was mourned as the death of one of Ireland's best-loved and most recognisable writers.[4][5][6][7]

She appeared in the US market, featuring on The New York Times Best Seller list and in Oprah's Book Club.[8] Recognised for her "total absence of malice"[9] and generosity to other writers, she finished third in a 2000 poll for World Book Day, ahead of Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Stephen King.[4][10]

Biography

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Overview

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Early life and family

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Anne Maeve Binchy[1] was born on 28 May 1939[1] in Dalkey, Dublin, the oldest of the four children of William and Maureen (née Blackmore) Binchy. Her siblings include one brother, William Binchy, Regius Professor of Laws at Trinity College Dublin, and two sisters: Irene "Renie" (who predeceased Binchy), and Joan, Mrs. Ryan.[11] Her uncle was the historian D. A. Binchy (1899–1989). Educated at St Anne's (then located at No 35 Clarinda Park East), Dún Laoghaire, and later at Holy Child Killiney,[12] she went on to study at University College Dublin (where she earned a bachelor's degree in history).[2][3][13] She worked as a teacher[2][14] of French, Latin, and history at various girls' schools,[12][13][15] then as a journalist at The Irish Times,[2] and later became a writer of novels, short stories, and dramatic works.[16][17][18]

In 1968, her mother died of cancer at age 57. After Binchy's father died in 1971, she sold the family house and moved to a bedsit in Dublin.[19]

Israel/Faith

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Her parents were Catholics, and Binchy attended a convent school. However, a trip to Israel profoundly affected both her career and her faith. She later said to Vulture:

In 1963, I worked in a Jewish school in Dublin, teaching French with an Irish accent to kids, primarily Lithuanians. The parents there gave me a trip to Israel as a present. I had no money, so I went and worked in a kibbutz – plucking chickens, picking oranges. My parents were very nervous; here I was going out to the Middle East by myself. I wrote to them regularly, telling them about the kibbutz. My father and mother sent my letters to a newspaper, which published them. So I thought, It's not so hard to be a writer. Just write a letter home. After that, I started writing other travel articles.[16][20]

One Sunday, attempting to locate where the Last Supper is supposed to have occurred, she climbed a mountainside to a cavern guarded by a Brooklyn-born Israeli soldier. She wept with despair. The soldier asked, "What'ya expect, ma'am – a Renaissance table set for 13?" She replied, "Yes! That's just what I did expect". This experience caused her to renounce her Catholic faith, and eventually become agnostic.[21]

Marriage

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Binchy, described as "six feet tall, rather stout, and garrulous",[15] although she actually grew to 6'1",[1] said in an interview with Gay Byrne of The Late Late Show that, growing up in Dalkey, she never felt herself to be attractive; "as a plump girl I didn't start on an even footing to everyone else".[22] After her mother's death, she expected to lead a life of spinsterhood, saying "I expected I would live at home, as I always did." She continued, "I felt very lonely, the others all had a love waiting for them and I didn't."[22]

However, when recording a piece for Woman's Hour in London she met children's author Gordon Snell, then a freelance producer with the BBC.[22] Their friendship blossomed into a cross-border romance, with her in Ireland and him in London, until she eventually secured a job in London through The Irish Times.[22] She and Snell married in 1977 and, after living in London for a time, moved to Ireland. They lived together in Dalkey, not far from where she had grown up, until Binchy's death.[23] She described her husband as a "writer, a man I loved and he loved me and we got married and it was great and is still great. He believed I could do anything, just as my parents had believed all those years ago, and I started to write fiction and that took off fine. And he loved Ireland, and the fax was invented so we writers could live anywhere we liked, instead of living in London near publishers.[5]

Letter to the president

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Files in Ireland's National Archives, released to the public in 2006, feature a request from Maeve Binchy to President Cearbhall Ó Dálaigh asking if he could "receive" her. She wrote, "I know you are extremely busy but I often see in the paper that you 'received' so-and-so and was wondering very simply could I be received too." This request came while she was working for The Irish Times in London in 1975.[24]

Health

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In 2002, Binchy suffered health problems related to a heart condition, which inspired her to write Heart and Soul. The book, about what Binchy terms "a heart failure clinic" in Dublin and the people involved with it, reflects many of her own experiences and observations in the hospital.[16][20][25] Towards the end of her life, Binchy's website stated "My health isn't so good these days and I can't travel around to meet people the way I used to. But I'm always delighted to hear from readers, even if it takes me a while to reply."[4]

Death

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Binchy died on 30 July 2012. She was 73 and had suffered from various maladies, including painful osteoarthritis.[26] As a result of the arthritis she had a hip operation.[27] A month before her death she suffered a severe spinal infection (acute discitis),[1] and she finally succumbed to a heart attack.[4][6] Gordon was by her side when she died in a Dublin hospital.[5] Just ahead of that evening's Tonight with Vincent Browne and TV3's late evening news, Vincent Browne and then Alan Cantwell, who respectively anchor these shows, announced to Irish television viewers that Binchy had died earlier that evening.[7]

Immediate media reports described Binchy as "beloved", "Ireland's most well-known novelist" and the "best-loved writer of her generation".[5][7] Fellow writers mourned their loss, including Ian Rankin,[28] Jilly Cooper,[29] Anne Rice,[30] and Jeffrey Archer.[31] Politicians also paid tribute. President Michael D. Higgins stated: "Our country mourns."[30] Taoiseach Enda Kenny said, "Today we have lost a national treasure."[32] Minister of State at the Department of Health Kathleen Lynch, appearing as a guest on Tonight with Vincent Browne, said Binchy was, for her [Lynch's] money, as worthy an Irish writer as James Joyce or Oscar Wilde, and praised her for selling so many more books than they managed.[33]

In the days after her death, tributes were published from such writers as John Banville,[34] Roddy Doyle,[35] and Colm Tóibín.[36] Banville contrasted Binchy with Gore Vidal, who died the day after her, observing that Vidal "used to say that it was not enough for him to succeed, but others must fail. Maeve wanted everyone to be a success." Numerous tributes appeared in publications on both sides of the Atlantic, including The Guardian and CBC News.[37][38][39][40]

Shortly before her death, Binchy told The Irish Times: "I don't have any regrets about any roads I didn't take. Everything went well, and I think that's been a help because I can look back, and I do get great pleasure out of looking back ... I've been very lucky and I have a happy old age with good family and friends still around."[5] Just before dying, she read her latest short story at the Dalkey Book Festival.[28] She once said she would like to die "... on my 100th birthday, piloting Gordon and myself into the side of a mountain".[41]

Despite being agnostic, Binchy was given a traditional Requiem Mass which took place at the Church of the Assumption, in her hometown of Dalkey. She was later cremated at Mount Jerome Cemetery and Crematorium.[42][43]

Work

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Journalism

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The New York Times reports: Binchy's "writing career began by accident in the early 1960s, after she spent time on a kibbutz in Israel. Her father was so taken with her letters home that "he cut off the 'Dear Daddy' bits," Ms. Binchy later recounted, and sent them to an Irish newspaper, which published them."[13] Donal Lynch observed of her first paying journalism role: the Irish Independent "was impressed enough to commission her, paying her £16, which was then a week-and-a-half's salary for her."[22]

In 1968, Binchy joined the staff at The Irish Times, and worked there as a writer, columnist, the first Women's Page editor[22] then the London editor,[44] later reporting for the paper from London before returning to Ireland.[13]

Binchy's first published book is a compilation of her newspaper articles titled My First Book. Published in 1970, it is now out of print. As Binchy's bio posted at Read Ireland describes: "The Dublin section of the book contains insightful case histories that prefigure her novelist's interest in character. The rest of the book is mainly humorous, and particularly droll is her account of a skiing holiday, 'I Was a Winter Sport.'"[45][46]

Literature

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In all, Binchy published 16 novels, four short-story collections, a play, and a novella.[47] A 17th novel, A Week in Winter, was published posthumously.[48] Her literary career began with two books of short stories: Central Line (1978) and Victoria Line (1980). She published her debut novel Light a Penny Candle in 1982. In 1983, it sold for the largest sum ever paid for a first novel: £52,000. The timing was fortuitous, as Binchy and her husband were two months behind with the mortgage at the time.[49] However, the prolific Binchy – who joked that she could write as fast as she could talk – ultimately became one of Ireland's richest women.[49][50]

Her first book was rejected five times. She would later describe these rejections as "a slap in the face [...] It's like if you don't go to a dance you can never be rejected but you'll never get to dance either".[4]

Most of Binchy's stories are set in Ireland, dealing with the tensions between urban and rural life, the contrasts between England and Ireland, and the dramatic changes in Ireland between World War II and the present day. Her books have been translated into 37 languages.[4]

While some of Binchy's novels are complete stories (Circle of Friends, Light a Penny Candle), many others revolve around a cast of interrelated characters (The Copper Beech, Silver Wedding, The Lilac Bus, Evening Class, and Heart and Soul). Her later novels, Evening Class, Scarlet Feather, Quentins, and Tara Road, feature a cast of recurring characters.

Binchy announced in 2000 that she would not tour any more of her novels, but would instead be devoting her time to other activities and to her husband, Gordon Snell. Five further novels were published before her death: Quentins (2002), Nights of Rain and Stars (2004), Whitethorn Woods (2006), Heart and Soul (2008), and Minding Frankie (2010).[23] Her final novel, A Week in Winter, was published posthumously in 2012.[13][51] In 2014 a collection of 36 unpublished short stories that she had written over a period of decades was published under the title Chestnut Street.[52][53]

Binchy wrote several dramas specifically for radio and the silver screen. Additionally, several of her novels and short stories were adapted for radio, film, and television.[16][17][18] (See List of Works: Films, radio and television.)

Public appearances

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Binchy appeared on The Late Late Show on Saturday 20 March (based on chronology, this would have been 1982) in connection with the publication of the Dublin 4 short story collection.[54] "Then the conversation broadened and Gay Byrne asked about some aspects of my work, the royal weddings", Binchy later recalled in a letter she sent to the programme.[54] "I said how much I had liked Charles's wedding and hated Anne's – about covering the election in Ireland and how I had been one of the very few journalists watching FitzGerald and Haughey on the night of the Great Debate..."[54]

Following the publication of Light a Penny Candle, the programme sought Binchy to reappear to explain her success.[54] In advance of her appearance she sent Mary O'Sullivan, who was working on the programme, a letter (the same one referred to above) setting out her earnings in some detail, since Binchy thought this would be of relevance.[54] She received an initial 5,000 Irish pounds for Light a Penny Candle.[54] The paperback rights were sold for a British record for a first novel with a prepublication advance of £52,000 from Coronet.[54] Viking Press paid Binchy $200,000 for the U.S. hardcover edition.[54] The Literary Guild of America paid a further $50,000.[54] The French publisher paid Binchy 50,000 francs.[54] Binchy wrote to O'Sullivan, "I thought it would be better if you knew the exact figures, then you could decide what was and what was not relevant".[54] O'Sullivan republished the letter in the Sunday Independent's Living supplement in 2020 but mentioned that the last page, which followed on from Binchy referring to what she intended to do with all her money, was missing.[54]

In 1994, Binchy appeared on Morningside with Peter Gzowski.[55]

In 1999, Binchy appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show.[56] In 2009, she appeared on The Meaning of Life, also presented by Gay Byrne.[57] Binchy and her husband had a cameo appearance together in Fair City on 14 December 2011, during which the couple dined in The Hungry Pig.[58]

Awards and honours

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In 1978, Binchy won a Jacob's Award for her RTÉ play, Deeply Regretted By. A 1993 photograph of her by Richard Whitehead[59] belongs to the collection of the National Portrait Gallery[60] and a painting of her by Maeve McCarthy,[61] commissioned in 2005, is on display in the National Gallery of Ireland.[62]

In 1999, she received the British Book Award for Lifetime Achievement. In 2000, she received a People of the Year Award. In 2001, Scarlet Feather won the W H Smith Book Award for Fiction, defeating works by Joanna Trollope and then Booker winner Margaret Atwood, amongst other contenders.[10]

In 2007, she received the Irish PEN Award, joining writers including John B. Keane, Brian Friel, Edna O'Brien, William Trevor, John McGahern and Seamus Heaney.[63][64]

In 2010, she received a lifetime achievement award from the Irish Book Awards.[4] In 2012, she received an Irish Book Award in the "Irish Popular Fiction Book" category for A Week in Winter.[65]

Posthumous

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There were posthumous proposals to name a new Liffey crossing "Binchy Bridge" in memory of the writer.[66] Ultimately the bridge was named for trade unionist Rosie Hackett.

In September 2012, a new garden behind the Dalkey Library in County Dublin was dedicated in memory of Binchy.[67][68]

In 2014, University College Dublin announced the first annual Maeve Binchy Travel Award. The €4000 award will help student winners "pursue a novel travel trip to enhance their writing skills".[69]

List of works

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Publications

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Binchy published novels, non-fiction, a play and several short story collections. Two collections of short stories, Chestnut Street (2014) and A Few of the Girls (2015), were released after her death.[70]

Novels[23]
Short story collections[23]
Novellas
Non-fiction
  • My First Book (1970). Dublin: The Irish Times, Ltd. (ISBN 9780950341835)
  • Aches and Pains (1999)[23]
  • A Time to Dance (2006)[23]
  • The Maeve Binchy Writer's Club (2008)[23]
  • Maeve's Times: In Her Own Words (2015)
Plays
Other works

Films, radio, and television

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Binchy wrote several dramas specifically for radio and the silver screen. Additionally, several of her novels and short stories were adapted for radio, film, and television.[16][17][18]

Films

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In addition, the plot of the Danish film Italian for Beginners (2000) was taken in part from Binchy's novel Evening Class without credit or payment to her; the production company later settled with Binchy for a payment of an undisclosed amount.

Radio

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Since 1968, Binchy was a "frequent and hugely popular contributor to RTÉ Radio".[17] A press release dated 31 July 2012 and posted in that organisation's online Press Centre reads:

"RTÉ Radio 1 provided the platform for Maeve's many forays into the world of drama. In 2005 RTÉ 2fm DJ Gerry Ryan was among the cast of Surprise, a four-part radio drama written by Maeve. Other radio drama work included the award-winning Infancy and Tia Maria, starring Oscar winner Kathy Bates. Maeve was a driving force behind the RTÉ Radio 1 Human Rights Drama Seasons, while her story The Games Room was adapted for RTÉ Radio 1 by Anne-Marie Casey in 2009."[17]

Television

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See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d e Born 1939 as per biography, Maeve Binchy by Piers Dudgeon, Thomas Dunne Books 2013; ISBN 978-1-250-04714-4 (hardcover), pp. 4, 280, 302; ISBN 978-1-4668-4750-7 (ebook)
  2. ^ a b c d "Maeve Binchy". Guardian Unlimited Books. 22 July 2008. Archived from the original on 3 June 2008. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
  3. ^ a b "Maeve Binchy". Encyclopædia Britannica. Archived from the original on 10 February 2008. Retrieved 13 April 2007.
  4. ^ a b c d e f g "Author Maeve Binchy dies aged 72". BBC News. 31 July 2012. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  5. ^ a b c d e McGarry, Patsy (31 July 2012). "Maeve Binchy, best-loved writer of her generation, dies aged 72". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  6. ^ a b "Writer Maeve Binchy dies aged 72". RTÉ News. 30 July 2012. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  7. ^ a b c "Beloved Irish writer Maeve Binchy has died; Sad news this evening as the death of Ireland's most well-known novelist has passed away after a short illness". The Journal. 30 July 2012. Archived from the original on 30 July 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2012.
  8. ^ "Maeve Binchy, bestselling Irish author, dies". CBC News. 31 July 2012. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  9. ^ Greenslade, Roy (31 July 2012). "Maeve Binchy, a journalist whose head was full of stories". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 5 October 2013. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  10. ^ a b "Award relief for 'anxious' Binchy". BBC News. 27 April 2001. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2001.
  11. ^ McGarry, Patsy (4 August 2012). "Standing room only at author's simple but sad farewell with 'no eulogy or extras', as requested". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  12. ^ a b "Maeve Binchy". Read Ireland. Archived from the original on 17 February 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  13. ^ a b c d e Fox, Margalit (31 July 2012). "Books: Maeve Binchy, Writer Who Evoked Ireland, Dies at 72". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  14. ^ "An interview with Jana Siciliano". BookReporter.com. Archived from the original on 8 June 2011. Retrieved 14 April 2007.
  15. ^ a b Schudel, Matt (3 August 2012). "Maeve Binchy, acclaimed Irish novelist, dies at 72 (The author wrote solely about Ireland but found devotion worldwide)". Kansas City Star. Archived from the original on 8 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
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  22. ^ a b c d e f Lynch, Donal (5 August 2012). "Donal Lynch: Maeve stirred up love with a long spoon . . . (She was held in great affection, but even in Ireland the compliments could be backhanded)". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 7 August 2012. Retrieved 5 August 2012.
  23. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Official Website of Maeve Binchy". Archived from the original on 19 August 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
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  27. ^ McHardy, Anne (31 July 2012). "Maeve Binchy obituary". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2012. Twenty years later, I was writing about arthritis and Maeve was an obvious contact. It was before her hip operation and her pain was often debilitating.
  28. ^ a b Urquhart, Conal (31 July 2012). "Maeve Binchy, bestselling Irish writer, dies". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 24 February 2014. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  29. ^ "Maeve Binchy tribute from writer Jilly Cooper". BBC. 31 July 2012. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  30. ^ a b "Twitter pays tribute to Maeve Binchy". Irish Independent. 31 July 2012. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  31. ^ Telford, Lyndsey; Stack, Sarah (31 July 2012). "Maeve Binchy: Warm tributes paid to beloved Dalkey author on her death after illness". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
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  33. ^ "30 July 2012 episode". Tonight with Vincent Browne. TV3. Archived from the original on 28 July 2012.
  34. ^ Banville, John (1 August 2012). "Her prose had an exuberance, an effervescence, that was visible in her very typing". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  35. ^ Doyle, Roddy (1 August 2012). "Whenever she had her hands on a new Maeve Binchy buke . . ". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  36. ^ Tóibín, Colm (1 August 2012). "She brought self-deprecation to a fine art, but there was always irony behind it". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 2 August 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  37. ^ Carroll, Steven (1 August 2012). "International tributes roll in for writer for whom 'life was all about laughter'". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  38. ^ Flood, Alison (31 July 2012). "Maeve Binchy: a big-hearted guide to friendship, love and loss". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  39. ^ Hayes-McCoy, Felicity (31 July 2012). "Maeve Binchy, we'll miss you: Millions of readers around the world will remember Maeve as a great writer, but for me she was the best of teachers too". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 6 April 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  40. ^ Noakes, Susan (31 July 2012). "Maeve Binchy: An appreciation". CBC News. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  41. ^ Greenstreet, Rosanna (22 July 1995). "The Questionnaire: Maeve Binchy". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 26 February 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  42. ^ Barr, Robert. "Popular Irish author Maeve Binchy dies at 72". AP.[dead link‍]
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  44. ^ "Obituary: Maeve Binchy – witty, observant, and larger-than-life". Belfast Telegraph. 2 August 2012. Archived from the original on 4 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
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  46. ^ Binchy, Maeve (1970). My First Book. Dublin: The Irish Times, Ltd. ISBN 9780950341835.
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  48. ^ Cadden, Mary (13 February 2013). "Spend a comforting 'Week in Winter' with Maeve Binchy". USA Today. Archived from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
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  50. ^ Times staff and wire reports (1 August 2012). "Maeve Binchy dies; author of popular Irish literature was 72 (Maeve Binchy, a former teacher and journalist, didn't publish her first novel until the year she turned 42. She soon became a best-selling author)". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  51. ^ Times staff and wire reports (1 August 2012). "Maeve Binchy dies; author of popular Irish literature was 72". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 3 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  52. ^ Dumas, Bobbi (26 April 2014). "For Binchy Fans, One Last Trip Down 'Chestnut Street'". National Public Radio. Archived from the original on 16 July 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  53. ^ Carey, Anna (29 April 2014). "Maeve Binchy: Chestnut Street paved with gems". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 3 September 2014. Retrieved 1 September 2014.
  54. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l McLysaght, Emer (12 July 2020). "'It paved the way for Normal People' – The enduring appeal of Maeve Binchy's Circle of Friends". Sunday Independent (Living). p. 3. Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 22 August 2020. Print edition, with original title of "Big Read: The circle of life of Circle of Friends", included "Maeve's letter explaining how she earned her new-found success", which Binchy sent to Mary O'Sullivan before an appearance on The Late Late Show on which O'Sullivan was working.
  55. ^ "From the archives: Maeve Binchy in conversation with Peter Gzowski". CBC News. Archived from the original on 9 January 2014. Retrieved 15 October 2013.
  56. ^ Mackay, Don (31 July 2012). "'A larger-than-life recorder of human foibles and wonderment': Author Maeve Binchy dies, aged 72". The Mirror. Archived from the original on 31 July 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
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  61. ^ "The Molesworth Gallery: Artists: Maeve McCarthy ARHA". MolesworthGallery.com. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  62. ^ "National Gallery unveils portrait of Maeve Binchy". National Gallery of Ireland. October 2005. Archived from the original on 6 July 2009.
  63. ^ "Previous Winners of the Irish PEN / AT Cross Award for Literature". Irish Pen. Archived from the original on 9 May 2012.
  64. ^ "People: Another gong for Maeve's mantelpiece". Irish Independent. 16 January 2007. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009. Retrieved 16 January 2007.
  65. ^ Rosita Boland (23 November 2012). "Banville wins novel of year at awards". The Irish Times. Archived from the original on 20 January 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2012.
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  67. ^ McGarry, Patsy (28 September 2012). "Library garden in Dalkey dedicated to Maeve Binchy". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 30 September 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  68. ^ Butler, Laura (29 September 2012). "Garden 'fitting tribute to Maeve'". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012. Retrieved 18 October 2012.
  69. ^ Flaherty, Rachel (28 May 2014). "New award honours Maeve Binchy's love of travel and writing". Irish Times. Archived from the original on 22 September 2021. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  70. ^ Devlin, Martina (18 October 2015). "Books: An early present from Maeve". Irish Independent. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
  71. ^ "Full House". Archived from the original on 13 April 2012. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  72. ^ a b Corr, John (15 November 1980). "In the wake of her play, enjoying a few drinks and laughs". The Philadelphia Inquirer. p. 9-A.
  73. ^ Stark, Susan (30 April 1995). "A family tradition: storytelling – Hollywood hasn't affected author Maeve Binchy. She simply is expanding her circle of friends". The Jackson Sun. Jackson, Tennessee. p. 4B.
  74. ^ "Circle of Friends". IMDB.com. Archived from the original on 27 July 2018. Retrieved 30 June 2018.
  75. ^ a b "Maeve Binchy's Anner House". RTÉ One. 2007. Archived from the original on 3 April 2015.
  76. ^ "Anner House (TV 2007)". IMDb. 2007. Archived from the original on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  77. ^ "Deeply Regretted by..." maevebinchy.com. Archived from the original on 30 December 2011. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  78. ^ "'The Lilac Bus' (TV 1990)". imdb.com. Archived from the original on 5 October 2012. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
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In season 3 episode 7 of Ballykissangel, one road worker tosses a book to another, saying, "The latest Maeve Binchy!"

Further reading

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