Sadly Maeve Binchy died last month aged 72. She's best known for her humorous take on small-town life in Ireland, her descriptive characters, her interest in human nature and her often clever surprise endings.
It all started with Light a Penny Candle in 1982 (braille 9v; TB 4629) and will end posthumously with A week in Winter to be published in October this year.
A selection of her titles
Circle of friends
Best friends since girlhood in the town of Knockglen, Benny and Eve discover a very different world in the excitements of University College, Dublin. Braille 11v; giant print; 7v; TB 9041.
The copper beech
Eight children once carved their names on the great copper beech tree which shades the schoolhouse in the small Irish town of Shancarrig. Now grown, they each have different lives, but their home town still holds special memories - some too private ever to be told. Braille 7v; TB 9703.
Dublin 4
Four stories set in the heart of Dublin's fashionable Southside. Braille 14v; TB7167.
This year it will be different
Binchy evokes power shifts in families, unwelcome discoveries, conspiracies, affairs, forgiveness, sorrow and the rebirth of optimism with her usual warmth and sympathy in this collection of short stories. Giant print 2v; braille 4v.
Nights of rain and stars
Four strangers, with nothing in common but a life in turmoil, meet in a Greek taverna. With the help of Vonni, a middle-aged Irishwoman who lives in the village they find solutions - though not necessarily the ones they anticipated. Braille 4v; TB 14218.
Minding Frankie
A story about unconventional families, relationships which aren't quite what they seem, and the child at the heart of everyone's lives. Braille 7v; giant print 5v; TB 18613.