“I'll understand if you don't want me. But I will be heartbroken. You are all I ever dreamed of and hoped for. You are much, much more. Please know that I didn't think I was mean-minded. But...”
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Author detail
Maeve Binchy was born on 28 May 1940 in Dalkey, County Dublin, Ireland, the eldest child of four. Her parents were very positive and provided her with a happy childhood. Despite the fact she describes herself as an overweight child it was her parents attitude that gave her the confidence to accept herself for who she is today. She studied at University College Dublin and was a teacher for a while. She also loved travelling and this was how she found her niche as a writer. She liked going to all different kinds of places such as a Kibbutz in Israel and worked in a camp in the United States. It was whilst she was away that she sent letters home to her parents. They were so impressed with these chatty letters from all over the world that they decided to send them to a newspaper. They were published. She left teaching and became a journalist. She still writes columns today. Maeve married Gordon Snell who is also a published writer. When they were struggling financially it was then that Light a Penny Candle was published. She became an overnight success. Her books deal with relationship problems. Many of them are set in the past in Ireland such as "Echoes" and often deal with people who are young, fall in love, have families then have relationship or family problems that readers can identify with. The main characters are people you can empathise with. Some of her later novels have been brought forward to the present day to become more modern. Her cousin Dan Binchy is also a published writer. She passed away on 30 July 2012, at the age of 72.
Quotes
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“I'll understand if you don't want me. But I will be heartbroken. You are all I ever dreamed of and hoped for. You are much, much more. Please know that I didn't think I was mean-minded. But...”
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“The biggest influence on my books was the fact that I had worked in a newspaper for so long. In a daily paper, you learn to write very quickly; there is no time to sit and brood about what y...”
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“Nobody ever wins by the cavalry coming to rescue you. It isn't a question of you're happy if you get married, or you get thin, or you get rich, because I've known lots of thin, rich, married...”
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“I discovered that men were just like everyone else, really. They liked you if you were good-tempered and easy to talk to. And being a big girl meant other females trusted you more and confid...”
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“I am much more understanding of people than I used to be when I was young - people were either villainous or wonderful. They were painted in very bright colours. The bad side of it - and the...”
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“After my hip operation, I had to cut out butter, which I loved, and salt. I no longer eat desserts with lots of cream, and I've cut right back on alcohol.”
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“The great thing about getting older is that you become more mellow. Things aren't as black and white, and you become much more tolerant. You can see the good in things much more easily rathe...”
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“I was the big, bossy older sister, full of enthusiasms, mad fantasies, desperate urges to be famous, and anxious to be a saint - a settled sort of saint, not one who might have to suffer or...”
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“I'm an escapist kind of writer.”
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“I do realize that I am a popular writer who people buy to take on vacation. I'm an escapist kind of writer.”
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“My mother hoped I would meet a nice doctor or barrister or accountant who would marry me and take me to live in what is now called Fashionable Dublin Four. But she felt that this was a vain...”
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“I've been very lucky and I have a happy old age with good family and friends still around.”
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“I don't say I was 'proceeding down a thoroughfare;' I say I 'walked down the road'. I don't say I 'passed a hallowed institute of learning;' I say I 'passed a school'.”
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“We are all the heroes and heroines of our own lives. Our love stories are amazingly romantic; our losses and betrayals and disappointments are gigantic in our own minds.”
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“I have an irregular heartbeat, so that means a fair amount of medication - and I have blood pressure pills, too, but no vitamins or supplements.”
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“I'm mainly an airport author, and if you're trying to take your mind off the journey, you're not going to read 'King Lear.'”
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“I have been luckier than anyone I know or even heard of. I had a very happy childhood, a good education, I enjoyed working as a teacher, journalist and author. I have loved a wonderful man f...”
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“When I was younger, I avoided exercise or anything strenuous. I didn't even enjoy walking. As I got older, I spent so much time marking books or sitting at a desk writing that there was no r...”
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“I have been blessed with friends who do things rather than buy things: friends who will change books at the library, take a bag of your old clothes to a thrift store, bring you cuttings and...”
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“My father went to work by train every day. It was half an hour's journey each way, and he would read a paperback in four journeys. After supper, we all sat down to read - it was long before...”
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