Chestnut Street

While she was writing columns for The Irish Times and her best-selling novels, Maeve Binchy also had in mind to write a book that revolved around one street with many characters coming and going. Every once in a while, she would write about one these people. She would then put it in a drawer. "For the future," she would say. The future is now. Just around the corner from St. Jarlath's Crescent is Chestnut Street, where neighbors come and go. Behind their closed doors we encounter very different people with different life circumstances, occupations, and sensibilities. Written with the humor and understanding that are earmarks of Maeve Binchy's work, it is a pleasure to be part of this world with all of its joys and sorrows, to get to know the good and the bad, and ultimately to have our hearts warmed by her storytelling. At Chestnut Street in Dublin, neighbors come and go. Behind their closed doors they are very different people with different life circumstances, occupations, and sensibilities struggle with family relationships, romances gone awry, and the possibility for a better future. Bucket Maguire, the window cleaner, must do more than he bargained for to protect his son. Nessa Byrne's aunt visits from America every summer and turns the house-- and Nessa's world-- upside down. Lilian has a big heart-- and a fiance no one approves of.