Maeve Binchy obit

Maeve Binchy Obituary

 

She was not on the list.

LONDON (AP) — Bestselling Irish author Maeve Binchy, one of Ireland's most popular writers who sold more than 40 million books worldwide, has died in Dublin after a brief illness, Irish media and national leaders reported. She was 72 years old.

She was best known for her depictions of human relationships and their crises, mainly in the small towns of Ireland but also in London.

"We have lost a national treasure," said Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny.

The Irish Times, her former employer, told the AP it had spoken to Binchy's family and said the acclaimed author had died in a Dublin hospital on Monday with her husband Gordon Snell by her side.

"She was an outstanding novelist, short story writer and columnist, who engaged millions of people all around the world with her fluent and accessible style," said Ireland's president, Michael D. Higgins.

"In recent years she showed great courage and thankfully never lost her self-deprecating humor, honesty and remarkable integrity as an artist and human being," Higgins said.

Binchy, author of "Circle of Friends" and "Tara Road," wrote 16 novels, four collections of short stories, a play and a novella. Her work landed her on The New York Times' bestseller list and in Oprah's Book Club.

In recent years she continued to write despite being slowed down by arthritis and a heart ailment. "I do realize that I am a popular writer who people buy to take on vacation. I'm an escapist kind of writer," Binchy said in an interview with the BookReporter website.

"I was just lucky I lived in this time of mass-market paperbacks," she added.

Describing her childhood in Dalkey in County Dublin, Binchy wrote on her official website that she was "full of enthusiasms, mad fantasies, desperate urges to be famous and anxious to be a saint. "

After graduating from University College Dublin, Binchy worked as a teacher before becoming a journalist, columnist and editor at the Irish Times, one of the country's leading newspapers.

She later moved to England, where she became the newspaper's London editor in the early 1970s.

Her first novel, "Light a Penny Candle," was published in 1982 — after being rejected by five publishers — and became a bestseller.

That book led to an invitation to appear on a French TV program, "a terrifying serious program about books," she recalled two years ago in an interview with Donald O'Donoghue of broadcaster RTE.

"Suddenly they asked me, as only the French would, 'Madame, what is your philosophy of life?' What a cosmic question, but I had to answer, and answer quickly, because it was live.

"So I said, in French, 'I think that you've got to play the hand that you're dealt and stop wishing for another hand.'" Several of her works — including "Circle of Friends" and "Tara Road" — were turned into films. "Tara Road," about Irish and American women who switch homes without having met, was chosen by U.S. TV talk show host Oprah Winfrey for her popular book club, bringing her many new readers.

She had announced in her column in 2000 that "Scarlet Feather" would be her last novel, prompting more than 800 people to write in protest to The Irish Times.

A new novel, "Quentins," appeared in 2002.

In the same year, she suffered a health crisis related to a heart condition, and doctors warned that it would restrict her activity. Her time in hospital waiting rooms, absorbing the conversations of patients, inspired another novel, "Heart and Soul," in 2009.

Binchy's novel "Minding Frankie" was published in 2010, the same year she received a lifetime achievement honor from the Irish Book Awards. Her latest novel, "A Week in Winter," is to be published later this year.

In an interview two years ago, Binchy said she preferred to deal with issues which could be argued from either side.

"I often wonder that if I had met Hitler, I reckon I might have found some streak of decency in him," she told O'Donoghue.

"I once tried to write a novel about revenge. It's the only book I didn't finish. I couldn't get into the mind of the person who was plotting vengeance," she said.

The best advice, she added, comes from the "Coronation Street," a British soap opera: "Oh, get over yourself."

Binchy is survived by her husband, her brother William and her sister Joan. Funeral arrangements were not immediately announced.

Writer

How About You (2007)

How About You

6.6

short story

2007

 

Anner House (2007)

Anner House

6.8

TV Movie

short story

2007

 

Andie MacDowell and Olivia Williams in Tara Road (2005)

Tara Road

6.0

novel

2005

 

Italian for Beginners (2000)

Italian for Beginners

7.0

based on her novel "Evening Class" (uncredited)

2000

 

Minnie Driver and Chris O'Donnell in Circle of Friends (1995)

Circle of Friends

6.6

novel

1995

 

Stephanie Beacham, Brendan Conroy, Beatie Edney, Dervla Kirwan, Rynagh O'Grady, and Con O'Neill in The Lilac Bus (1992)

The Lilac Bus

6.5

TV Movie

book

1992

 

Echoes (1988)

Echoes

6.9

TV Mini Series

novel

1988

4 episodes

 

Joe Lynch in Thursday Play Date (1964)

Thursday Play Date

TV Series

Writer

1980

1 episode

 

Deeply Regretted By

TV Movie

Writer

1978

 

Self

Maeve Binchy: At Home in the World

TV Movie

Self

2011

 

4th Irish Film and Television Awards

7.3

TV Special

Self

2007

 

The Making of 'Tara Road'

TV Movie

Self

2005

 

Breakfast (2000)

Breakfast

5.2

TV Series

Self

2001

1 episode

 

Gerry Kelly in Kelly (1989)

Kelly

6.3

TV Series

Self

2000

1 episode

 

Open House with Gloria Hunniford (1998)

Open House with Gloria Hunniford

3.5

TV Series

Self

1999

1 episode

 

Richard and Judy Exclusive

8.5

TV Series

Self

1997

1 episode

 

Wogan's Island

TV Series

Self

1995

1 episode

 

Close-Up (1995)

Close-Up

TV Series

Self

1995

1 episode

 

Terry Wogan in Wogan (1982)

Wogan

6.2

TV Series

Self

1985–1990

4 episodes

 

The Write Stuff

TV Series

Self

1989

1 episode

 

Cover to Cover

TV Series

Self

1987

1 episode

 

Bookmark (1983)

Bookmark

5.4

TV Series

Self

1984

1 episode

 

Did You See..? (1980)

Did You See..?

5.2

TV Series

Self

1982–1983

3 episodes

 

The Light of Experience (1976)

The Light of Experience

TV Series

Self

1976

1 episode

List of works

Publications

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.

 

Novels

Light a Penny Candle (1982)

Echoes (1985)

Firefly Summer (1987)

Silver Wedding (1988)

Circle of Friends (1990)

The Copper Beech (1992)

The Glass Lake (1994)

Evening Class (1996)

Tara Road (1998)

Scarlet Feather (2000)

Quentins (2002)

Nights of Rain and Stars (2004)

Whitethorn Woods (2006)

Heart and Soul (2008)

Minding Frankie (2010)

A Week in Winter (2012)

Short story collections

Central Line (1978)

Victoria Line (1980)

Dublin 4 (1981)

London Transports (1983) (London Transports and Victoria Line Central Line consist of the same stories).

The Lilac Bus (1984)

The Story Teller: A Collection of Short Stories (1990)

Dublin People (1993) (Contains two stories included in Dublin 4 in a simplified form.)

Cross Lines (1996)

This Year It Will Be Different: And Other Stories (1996)

The Return Journey (1998)

Chestnut Street (2014)

A Few of the Girls (2015)

Novellas

The Builders (2002)

Star Sullivan (2006)

Full House (2012)

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)

Maeve's Times: In Her Own Words (2015)

Plays

Deeply Regretted By... (2005)

The Half Promised Land (1980)

Other works

Finbar's Hotel (contributor)

Ladies Night at Finbar's Hotel (contributor)

Irish Girls About Town (2002) (editor with Cathy Kelly and Marian Keyes)

Films, radio, and television

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.

 

Films

Circle of Friends (1995) – Hollywood film starring Chris O'Donnell and Minnie Driver, based on Binchy's fifth novel, Circle of Friends (1990), with a radical change of ending.

Tara Road (2005) – Hollywood film starring Olivia Williams and Andie MacDowell and based on Binchy's sixth novel, Tara Road (1998) – which was adopted as an Oprah's Book Club selection in September 1999.

How About You (2007) – Irish film based on the short story "How About You" (sometimes published as "The Hard Core") and starring Vanessa Redgrave, Joss Ackland, Brenda Fricker, and Imelda Staunton, from the short story collection titled This Year It Will Be Different: And Other Stories (1996).

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

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."

Television

Deeply Regretted By... (1978) – Binchy won a Jacob's Award for this RTÉ One television play, which was filmed in Ireland and stars Donal Farmer and Joan O'Hara.

Echoes (1988) – four-part television miniseries on Channel 4, based on Binchy's second novel, Echoes (published in 1985).

The Lilac Bus (1990) – 90-minute TV movie, starring Stephanie Beacham, Emmet Bergin, and Brendan Conroy, based on Binchy's collection of interrelated short stories titled The Lilac Bus (first published in 1984)

Maeve Binchy's Anner House (2007) – 90-minute TV movie, filmed in Cape Town, that aired on RTÉ Television. The film stars Liam Cunningham, Flora Montgomery, and Conor Mullen, and is based on a short story by Binchy. The screenplay was written by Anne-Marie Casey