Renowned Irish author Maeve Binchy was always full of heart.
She penned 16 novels over her lifetime, and would happily admit that they were books people bought to take on vacation.
Binchy died this summer after a short illness. Upon her death, I listened to an old recording of her voice. She told a wonderful story about her larger-than-life mother, who was loud, dressed in an oversized fur coat and always had a sprinkling of cigarette ash on her blouse front.
Binchy’s voice was funny and full of warmth — just like the stories she wrote. She spun a variety of tales, mostly about everyday people exploring romance and dealing with crises.
Binchy generally had a final twist in store for readers, but one thing was certain: all would end well.
While reading a Binchy novel I admit to occasionally wincing at descriptions of twee characters and obvious romantic set-ups. But strangely enough when I’m finished (and I always have to finish) I bask in the warm afterglow of a story well-told. Binchy never claimed her books were great works of literature, she just felt lucky to have been born during a time when mass paperbacks were popular.
But her success was more than luck. Binchy was so popular — having sold more than 40 million copies of her books worldwide — she is considered a national treasure in Ireland.
Some of her more popular titles Circle of Friends and Tara Road were made into movies. A final work titled A Week in Winter will be published posthumously later in 2012.
Heart and Soul, her second to last book, centred on the lives of staff and patients in a new cardiac clinic in Dublin. Binchy herself suffered from a heart condition, and wrote the book to express what she had learned: There is a life worth living after heart failure.
Binchy was a long time supporter of the Irish Health Foundation. And even though she lived in a different corner of the world, I’m sure she would be pleased to hear the announcement this week about the expansion of cardiac care in the Okanagan.
Heart and soul is something that Binchy had in abundance.
If you have a vacation planned for these last days of summer, you can’t go wrong by packing one or two Binchy novels for the trip.
Heather Allen is a writer and reader living in Penticton.
