Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Loved it. I forgot how much I loved Maeve Binchy books
An easy and enjoyable read. Very long at 900 pages +, but it goes quickly. Maeve Binchy for me comes in the category of easy reading, pretty predictable but well written, and this particular novel was very evocative of my childhood, as the main characters must have been born at the same time I was.
As a fan of Maeve Binchy, I felt this book was unnecessarily long.
I’ve ready about 10 of Binchy’s 15 novels and this is among my favorites (along with “Scarlet Feather,” “Light a Penny Candle” and “Circle of Friends”). Most of her novels, including this one, are set in Ireland in the mid-20th century and have a slew of well developed characters.
“Firefly Summer” spans four years in the 1960s and focuses on what happens to a small town when an American millionaire (with his two teen children and former mistress in tow) comes in to build a huge hotel. It culminates with the hotel’s grand opening, which ends in a very unexpected way.
Along the way there is teen romance, blackmail, two tragic accidents that change the residents’ lives dramatically, an unexpected but touching friendship, loyalty challenges and much more. There is a whole town full of characters, yet you get to know each one and have no trouble keeping them straight, which I often find challenging in novels with so many people.
I will admit I lost several hours of much-needed sleep toward the end of this book. The ending was not at all what I expected yet after reading it, I could imagine no other ending.
“Firefly Summer” spans four years in the 1960s and focuses on what happens to a small town when an American millionaire (with his two teen children and former mistress in tow) comes in to build a huge hotel. It culminates with the hotel’s grand opening, which ends in a very unexpected way.
Along the way there is teen romance, blackmail, two tragic accidents that change the residents’ lives dramatically, an unexpected but touching friendship, loyalty challenges and much more. There is a whole town full of characters, yet you get to know each one and have no trouble keeping them straight, which I often find challenging in novels with so many people.
I will admit I lost several hours of much-needed sleep toward the end of this book. The ending was not at all what I expected yet after reading it, I could imagine no other ending.
This is the exact story I think of when I think of Binchy, and while it was long, I really enjoyed the full cast of flawed yet complex characters here. With some exceptions, you end up sympathizing with almost every character despite the fact that they almost all make a lot of mistakes as well.
A satisfying and comforting read.
A satisfying and comforting read.
I love Ms. Binchy's stories. It makes me want to move to Ireland and live with these people.
Mr. O'Neill arrives in sleepy Fernscourt to build his hotel. His arrival sparks a chain of events that turns the town inside out.
Mr. O'Neill arrives in sleepy Fernscourt to build his hotel. His arrival sparks a chain of events that turns the town inside out.
Reading Maeve Binchy was like taking a slow, meandering stroll through the lush Irish countryside--or at least what I would imagine such a stroll to be since I've never visited Ireland. This was my first Binchy novel. I enjoyed her numerous and well-developed characters, but sometimes the attention to all of the secondary characters tempted me to want to skip ahead. I resisted, and usually discovered some little gem of a plot point I would have missed. At 654 pages, Firefly Summer was daunting in the beginning, but this lengthy tome entertained and delighted.
From BBC Radio 4 Extra:
In Binchy's 1987 novel, an American moves his family to the rural Irish town of Mountfern
In Binchy's 1987 novel, an American moves his family to the rural Irish town of Mountfern
