Extraordinary writer of ordinary lives

AT THE heart of any great book is the ability to tell as good story with characters who are believable and that we identify with. Critics often sight male writers such as Frank O’Connor and Sean O’Faolain as being literary giants in this Irish tradition. Yet in terms of book sales and global recognition, Maeve Binchy has been at the forefront this tradition.

Binchy’s unique writing style has meant Irish stories have reached a global audience. Moreover, the novelist has sold more than 40 million books and had her work made into internationally successful movies, through her ability to tell an Irish story. However, what is less known about Binchy was that her storytelling was shaped by her difficult early years growing up. These formative experiences gave her the gift of observation into the comings and goings of close-knit village life that were to make her Ireland’s best-selling author.   

Early years

The eldest of four children, Anne Maeve Binchy was born on May 28, 1939, in Dalkey, Dublin. Standing over six foot tall and of stout appearance, Binchy described her young self as being an awkward and lonely girl, who was destined for spinsterhood. On The Late, Late Show at the height of her popularity, she publicly reflected that: “As a plump girl I didn’t start on an even footing to everyone else... I felt lonely, the others had a love waiting for them and I didn’t.” However, her outsider status at the heart of a small community did provide imaginative fuel to light her literary fire.

In the late 1950s Binchy went to study History at University College Dublin (UCD). However, unlike most of the other students she didn’t live on campus and returned nightly to the family home in Dalkey, whilst the other students enjoyed university life. Binchy was neither fish nor fowl, not being fully integrated into Dublin student life, and yet being seen as other than normal as a university educated young woman living in a small town. 

It was her status as an educated observer of her community, watching the comings and goings of smalltown Irish life that would fire her imagination.  Repeatedly in her fiction Binchy unflinchingly used her experiences of being seen as an unattractive young woman as source material for her writing. Her honest depiction of herself would give her biggest commercial success.

Hollywood calling

Her ability to write about the life of an ordinary Irish girl was key to the success of her multimillion selling novel Circle of Friends (1990), which was adapted into a Hollywood film. The book is set in Dublin and the fictional village of Knockglen during the 1950s. The book focuses on the childhood friendship between the overweight, big-hearted Bernadette ‘Benny’ and the wiry Eve.

When the girls go to study at UCD their loyalties are tested when they meet handsome Jack Foley and the beautiful social climber Nan Mahon. To everyone’s surprise Benny captures Jack’s heart. When Nan’s plan to marry Eve’s wealthy cousin goes awry, she begins an affair with Jack and becomes pregnant. Jack dutifully proposes marriage to Nan, however, when she loses the baby, he breaks off the engagement and attempts to repair his relationship with Benny. The heartbroken Benny realises that she is worth more than being second choice and rejects his attempts to repair their relationship and he is now relegated to one of many of Benny’s circle of friends. In this Binchy’s most successful novel, and many others, the line between personal biography and fiction was a blurred one.

In the Holy Land

After graduating in History from UCD, Binchy began a career as teacher. It was during her time working in a Jewish school in Dublin that was to have the most profound and unexpected turn in her life. As a present the parents of her pupils bought her a trip to the Holy Land. As a single woman and with teachers’ long summer holidays, the young Maeve embarked on adventure to the Holy Land working on a Kibbutz to save money.

In her role as a dutiful daughter, she wrote regularly to her parents about her experience as a Kibbutznik (worker). In typical Irish eccentric style, her father, who was so taken by her letters, cut off the ‘Dear Daddy’ parts of the letter and sent them to The Irish Times who published them. This gave her the confidence to write other travel articles and set her on the path to becoming Ireland’s best-selling author of all time.

It was during her time there that Binchy lost her Catholic faith. Whilst in Jerusalem she made a pilgrimage to the supposed site of The Last Supper. When she climbed to the mountainside cavern of the site, it was being guarded by an American-born Israeli soldier. When she began to cry at the underwhelming sight of reputed location of Christ’s Last Supper, the Brooklyn accented soldier quipped: “What’ ya expect ma’am, a Renaissance table set for 13?” The young Binchy replied: “Yes,” that’s what exactly she expected. The experience caused her to renounce her faith and set her on the path towards agnosticism.

Marriage

As a single woman in her 30s, Binchy was busy publishing short stories and establishing a growing international reputation as a talented writer. It was during a trip to London, when she was recording a piece for Woman’s Hour for the BBC, she met children’s author Gordon Snell. Their friendship blossomed into an Anglo-Irish romance and Binchy moved to London to work for The Irish Times and to be with Snell. They married in 1977 and moved backed to Dalkey in Dublin.

In her latter years, Binchy, the self-described lonely spinster, had found a soulmate in Snell describing her husband as ‘a writer, a man I loved, and he loved me and we got married and it was great and still is great.’

It was during her early years with Gordon, that Binchy began work on her first full length novel, Light a Penny Candle (1982). The following year the publishing rights were bought for the largest ever sum paid for a first novel in the UK, the princely sum of £52,000. Binchy quipped that the cheque couldn’t have arrived at a better time as they were two months behind with their mortgage. The penniless writer would ultimately become one of Ireland’s richest women.

Storyteller of ordinary life

Binchy’s newfound domestic happiness did not deter he from writing about the lives of ordinary Irish people. The Lilac Bus (1984) tells the stories of eight commuters who leave Dublin to return home to their fictional rural town of Rathdoon. Each chapter’s title is given first name of one of the eight passengers and tells their tale. Dee is the young lawyer who is having a clandestine affair with a prominent Dublin surgeon. Mikey is the bachelor uncle who plays the supporting role to the family of his charismatic and successful younger brother, whilst putting aside his own chances of happiness. Each character has a separate story, but their lives are interlocked by the nature of the small town, where secrets don’t stay secret very long.

Anyone who has travelled regularly across Ireland by bus can easily identify with these tales. From the initial camaraderie with familiar fellow passengers, the craic with the driver, to silent reflection that falls on the bus as we move towards our home. The Lilac Bus is a masterwork in recounting the small private lives of ordinary Irish people and when we read them, we see ourselves in their stories. Maeve’s genius lies in her ability to observe the intimacy of the personal, whilst addressing the universal themes of love, loss and longing.

Awards and honours

Maeve Binchy’s 40 million books sales speak for themselves in terms of the readability of her work. Yet, like Roddy Doyle, she was one of those rare breeds of writers who was able to court public and critical acclaim. In 2001, she won the WH Smith Book Award for Fiction for Scarlet Feather beating Margaret Atwood and other contenders for the prestigious award. In 2007, her own people recognised her when she won the Irish Pen Award, joining the ranks Edna O’Brien and Seamus Heaney as a recipient of the prize.

Critically acclaimed Irish writers such as Colm Tóibín and John Banville were among her many admirers. The normally restrained Banville was effusive about both her writing and her personal warmth. He commented that in the egotistical world of literature: “Maeve wanted everyone to be a success.”

Later years

In her later years Binchy suffered from heart problems which inspired her to write Heart and Soul (2008) about her experience of attending a heart clinic in Dublin. When her death was announced on July 30, 2012 from heart failure, there was genuine sense of national sadness at the loss of the much-loved writer. Shortly before her death she told The Irish Times: “I don’t have any regrets about any roads I didn’t take. Everything went well… I have a happy old age with good family and friends still around.”

The tall, awkward lonely outsider of her youth died a happy and beloved Irishwoman. Maeve Binchy—Ireland’s biggest selling and best loved writer.

Dr David McKinstry is a teacher and poet whose poems are widely published and broadcast across Ireland and in the UK. If any readers wish to share their literary output with him, they can contact him at: davmick38h@yahoo.co.uk