Irish Novelist Maeve Binchy Has Died

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|| RIP || Maeve Binchy || A TRIBUTE ||
|| RIP || Maeve Binchy || A TRIBUTE || (Photo credit: C.C.)
The celebrated Irish novelist Maeve Binchy has died following a short illness. She was 72 and a prolific writer of novels, novellas, short stories and books of non-fiction. Several of her novels were adapted as Hollywood films, including Tara Road and perhaps her most loved novel, Circle of Friends. News of her death was announced appropriately by Irish Times columnist, Vincent Browne, just before his TV3 programme on Irish television late last night. Binchy began her career in journalism for The Irish Times after a period of time as a teacher.
Binchy’s author website has yet to reflect the author’s passing. Her husband, Gordon Snell, was at her bedside in a Dublin hospital yesterday when she died.
Binchy sold more than 40 million copies of her books which were translated into 37 different languages. Many of Bincy’s novels are set in Ireland and deal with the tensions between rural and urban society and the contract between Ireland and England.
Not long before her death, Binchy had spoken to The Irish Times newspaper and remarked:

“I don’t have any regrets about any roads I didn’t take. Everything went well, and I think that’s been a help because I can look back, and I do get great pleasure out of looking back…I’ve been very lucky and I have a happy old age with good family and friends still around.”

She read from her most recent short story last month at the Dalkey Book Festival, close to the home she shared with her husband Gordon, and conceded then that it would probably be the last work.
In the below video, she shares her philosophy on life…

 

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