Audiobooks by Maeve Binchy

Maeve Binchy: Collected Stories: Collected BBC Radio adaptations

A collection of full-cast dramatisations and readings from the bestselling author ‘There’s nobody like Binchy for warming the cockles’ Times Maeve Binchy was one of Britain’s best-loved storytellers and this compilation of her finest fiction, as heard on BBC Radio, demonstrates all the warmth, wit and compassion that made her so popular. Firefly Summer is a moving, humorous novel about a sleepy Irish town facing monumental change, dramatised in six parts with a full cast including David Soul and Lorcan Cranitch. No Nightingales, No Snakes features full-cast dramatisations of five Maeve Binchy short stories, with a distinguished cast including Niamh Cusack, Sam Dale and Harry Towb. The Garden Party contains four short stories specially commissioned for BBC Radio 4, read by Niamh Cusack, Dervla Kirwan, Doreen Hepburn and Stella McCusker. The Homecoming comprises four more stories exclusively written for BBC Radio 4, read by Sean Campion, Joanna Myers, Patricia Hodge and Kate Binchy. Dealing with families, friendship, love, loss, sorrow and joy, these stories will delight all Maeve Binchy fans. Duration: 6 hours approx

, Maeve Binchy (Author), , David Soul, Niamh Cusack (Narrator)

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A Few of the Girls: Stories

From Maeve Binchys earliest writings to the most recent, her work is filled with wisdom and common sense and also a sharp, often witty voice that is insightful and reaches out to her readers around the world and of all ages. Whether it is one of her best-selling novels or a short story, Maeve shows us that times may have changed, but people often remain the same: they fall in love, sometimes unsuitably; they have hopes and dreams; they have deep, long-standing friends whose secrets are shared; they go on holidays and celebrate new jobs . . . A Few of the Girls is a glorious collection of the very best of her short story writing, stories that were written over the decades - some published in magazines, others for friends as gifts, many for charity benefits. The stories are all filled with the signature warmth and humor that have always been an essential part of Maeves appeal.From the Hardcover edition.

Maeve Binchy (Author), Jayne Entwistle, John Lee, Katharine McEwan, Sile Bermingham (Narrator)

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The Garden Party and Other Stories

A collection of short stories from the Archives read for Radio 4, by best-selling author Maeve Binchy. Stories included are:"The Garden Party" - Helen looked down at Mrs Kennedy's garden. It was cheerfully coloured yet ordered like Mrs Kennedy. But first impressions are not always reliable. "The Special Sale" - Yvonne's good deed leads to a romantic encounter the day after Christmas. "The Sensible Celebration" - Are the picture perfect couple really the ones to envy? All is not as it seems... "Dolly's Mother" - If you were square and solid and without colour and grace it was sometimes easy to hate Mother. (p) 2008 Audible Ltd

Maeve Binchy (Author), Dervla Kirwan, Doreen Hepburn (Narrator)

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Maeve's Times: In Her Own Words

Five decades of selected writings from the Irish Times by the beloved and best-selling author, filled with her hallmark humor, candor, and wisdom-a timeless gift to her legion of fans. Maeve Binchy once confessed: 'As someone who fell off a chair not long ago trying to hear what they were saying at the next table in a restaurant, I suppose I am obsessively interested in what some might consider the trivia of other people's lives.' She was an accidental journalist, yet from the beginning, her writings reflected the warmth, wit, and keen human interest that readers would come to love in her fiction. From the royal wedding to boring airplane companions, Samuel Beckett to Margaret Thatcher, 'senior moments' to life as a waitress, Maeve's Times gives us wonderful insight into a changing Ireland as it celebrates the work of one of our best-loved writers in all its diversity-revealing her characteristic directness, laugh-out-loud humor, and unswerving gaze into the true heart of a matter.

Maeve Binchy (Author), Kate Binchy (Narrator)

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Chestnut Street

Maeve Binchy imagined a street in Dublin with many characters coming and going, and every once in a while she would write about one of these people. She would then put it in a drawer; "for the future," she would say. The future is now. Across town from St. Jarlath's Crescent, featured in Minding Frankie, is Chestnut Street, where neighbors come and go. Behind their closed doors we encounter very different people with different life circumstances, occupations, and sensibilities. Some of the unforgettable characters lovingly brought to life by Binchy are Bucket Maguire, the window cleaner, who must do more than he bargained for to protect his son; Nessa Byrne, whose aunt visits from America every summer and turns the house-and Nessa's world-upside down; Lilian, the generous girl with the big heart and a fiance whom no one approves of; Melly, whose gossip about the neighbors helps Madame Magic, a self-styled fortune-teller, get everyone on the right track; Dolly, who discovers more about her perfect mother than she ever wanted to know; and Molly, who learns the cure for sleeplessness from her pen pal from Chicago . . . Chestnut Street is written with the humor and understanding that are earmarks of Maeve Binchy's extraordinary work and, once again, she warms our hearts with her storytelling.

Maeve Binchy (Author), Sile Bermingham (Narrator)

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A Week in Winter

Stoneybridge is a small town on the west coast of Ireland where all the families know one another. When Chicky Starr decides to take an old, decaying mansion set high on the cliffs overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean and turn it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea, everyone thinks she is crazy. Helped by Rigger (a bad boy turned good who is handy around the house) and Orla, her niece (a whiz at business), Chicky is finally ready to welcome the first guests to Stone House's big warm kitchen, log fires, and understated elegant bedrooms. John, the American movie star, thinks he has arrived incognito; Winnie and Lillian are forced into taking a holiday together; Nicola and Henry, husband and wife, have been shaken by seeing too much death practicing medicine; Anders hates his father's business, but has a real talent for music; Miss Nell Howe, a retired schoolteacher, criticizes everything and leaves a day early, much to everyone's relief; the Walls are disappointed to have won this second-prize holiday in a contest where first prize was Paris; and Freda, the librarian, is afraid of her own psychic visions. Sharing a week with this unlikely cast of characters is pure joy, full of Maeve's trademark warmth and humor. Once again, she embraces us with her grand storytelling.

Maeve Binchy (Author), Rosalyn Landor (Narrator)

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Minding Frankie

Maeve Binchy is back with a tale of joy, heartbreak and hope, about a motherless girl collectively raised by a close-knit Dublin community. When Noel learns that his terminally ill former flame is pregnant with his child, he agrees to take guardianship of the baby girl once shes born. But as a single father battling demons of his own, Noel cant do it alone. Fortunately, he has a competent, caring network of friends, family and neighbors: Lisa, his unlucky-in-love classmate, who moves in with him to help him care for little Frankie around the clock; his American cousin, Emily, always there with a pep talk; the newly retired Dr. Hat, with more time on his hands than he knows what to do with; Dr. Declan and Fiona and their baby son, Frankies first friend; and many eager babysitters, including old friends Signora and Aidan and Frankies doting grandparents, Josie and Charles. But not everyone is pleased with the unconventional arrangement, especially a nosy social worker, Moira, who is convinced that Frankie would be better off in a foster home. Now its up to Noel to persuade her that everyone in town has something special to offer when it comes to minding Frankie.

Maeve Binchy (Author), Sile Bermingham (Narrator)

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The Homecoming & Other Stories

Maeve Binchy is one of Britain's most popular storytellers, and these four tales demonstrate the warmth and compassion that have made her many novels bestsellers. In Homecoming, read by Sean Campion, the Brennans run Quentin's restaurant in Dublin for the owner, who lives abroad. But what will happen when he suddenly pays a visit? Telling Stories, read by Joanna Myers, sees Irene's fiancé turning up the night before the wedding with a face as white as the dress that is to be worn the next day. Then trouble starts... In Needy, read by Patricia Hodge, Heather is painfully aware that Valentine's Day declarations of love should be viewed with suspicion, even if the sender is the one she loves. And in The Interview, read by Kate Binchy, Bessie is deaf and needs a place in a special school. But will she pass the interview? Finely crafted and full of wit and charm, these are stories that no fan of Maeve Binchy will want to be without.

Maeve Binchy (Author), Joanna Myers, Kate Binchy, Patricia Hodge, Sean Campion (Narrator)

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Heart and Soul

"[Maeve] Binchy makes you laugh, cry, and care. Her warmth and sympathy render the daily struggles of ordinary people heroic and turn storytelling into art." -San Francisco Chronicle With the insight, humor, and compassion we have come to expect from her, Maeve Binchy tells a story of family, friends, patients, and staff who are part of a heart clinic in a community caught between the old and the new Ireland. Dr. Clara Casey has been offered the thankless job of establishing the underfunded clinic and agrees to take it on for a year. She has plenty on her plate already-two difficult adult daughters and the unwanted attentions of her ex-husband-but she assembles a wonderfully diverse staff devoted to helping their demanding, often difficult patients. Before long the clinic is established as an essential part of the community, and Clara must decide whether or not to leave a place where lives are saved, courage is rewarded, and humor and optimism triumph over greed and self-pity. Heart and Soul is Maeve Binchy at her storytelling best.

Maeve Binchy (Author), Sile Bermingham (Narrator)

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Whitethorn Woods

WHITETHORN WOODS is Binchy's best read in a decade . . . Few contemporary novelists match Binchy's gift for giving us the world through her characters' eyes.' , The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Maeve Binchy once again brings us an enchanting book full of the wit, warmth, and wisdom that have made her one of the most beloved and widely read writers at work today.When a new highway threatens to bypass the town of Rossmore and cut through Whitethorn Woods, everyone has a passionate opinion about whether the town will benefit or suffer. But young Father Flynn is most concerned with the fate of St. Ann's Well, which is set at the edge of the woods and slated for destruction. People have been coming to St. Ann's for generations to share their dreams and fears, and to speak their prayers. Some believe it to be a place of true spiritual power, demanding protection; others think it's a mere magnet for superstitions, easily sacrificed. Not knowing which faction to favor, Father Flynn listens to all those caught up in the conflict, and these are the voices we hear in the stories of Whitethorn Woods, men and women deciding between the traditions of the past and the promises of the future, ordinary people brought vividly to life by Binchy's generosity and empathy, and in the vivacity and surprise of her storytelling.Maeve Binchy is at the very top of her form in this irresistible tale. From the Compact Disc edition.

Maeve Binchy (Author), Various Narrators (Narrator)

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Aches & Pains

Get the feel-better factor from Maeve Binchy as she teams up with artist Wendy Shea to bring us ACHES & PAINS. This gem of a book includes: Five things you can say to annoy the patient in the next bed How to put on elastic stockings Six ways to make non-alcoholic drinks bearable How to be the perfect hospital visitor Unusual but essential things for your medicine cupboard Filled with fun, warmth and wisdom, for which Maeve Binchy is famous, ACHES & PAINS is the perfect alternative to a Get Well card. Read by Kate Binchy (p) 2002 Orion Publishing Group

Maeve Binchy (Author), Kate Binchy (Narrator)

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Maeve Binchy Value Collection: The Copper Beach, Circle of Friends, The Glass Lake

At the heart of every Irish family, the hopes of the future are tied deeply to the dreams of the past. And at the heart of every Maeve Binchy novel, the lives and loves of vividly drawn characters are deftly woven into unforgettable, beautifully realized tales. Now, in this charming audio set, three of Maeve Binchy's classic coming-of-age tales are collected together. These wonderful audio presentations represent the very best work of one of the world's most celebrated authors. And listening to her comforting stories feels just like coming home. The Copper Beech Carved on the trunk of the mighty copper beech tree that embraces the schoolyard in Sharcarrig are declarations of love, hope, and identity-the youthful dreams of the children who studied there. Now grown, yet shaped by their years in the schoolhouse, they lead different lives. The Copper Beech tells the story of these eight dreamers. Circle of Friends Circle of Friends begins with the pair of Benny Hogan and Eve Malone from the village of Knockglen until they leave for university in Dublin and are joined by Nan Mahon and Jack Foley. Long-hidden lies emerge to test the meaning of love and the strength of ties held within the fragile gold bands of a circle of friends. The Glass Lake In The Glass Lake, Maeve Binchy explores the unspoken language between mothers and daughters in an extraordinary story of a mother's secret, a daughter's courage, and the hidden bond between them that neither deceit nor death can destroy.

Maeve Binchy (Author), Fionnula Flanagan (Narrator)

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