Firefly Summer
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4.0 • 30 Ratings
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
'Wonderfully warm and involving' Katie Fforde
Every summer the four Ryan children play in the ruins of Fernscourt, the once-grand house on the bank of the river.
But when the estate is bought by Patrick O'Neill, the wealthy Irish American, his grand plans for its development threaten to shatter the peace. A new luxury hotel promises to breathe new life into the village, and yet it could also spell disaster for the Ryan family.
And as old values and traditions begin to crumble away, no-one - not even Patrick - can predict what his big dreams will do to the heart of their quiet village.
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'If any author can help you survive lockdown, it's Binchy' Daily Mail
'Firefly Summer is warm, humorous, sad and happy. Reading it is a joy' Irish Indepdent
'I find myself yearning for the rain-soaked watercolour writing of Maeve Binchy' Jenny Colgan, Guardian Best Comfort Reads
'Binchy's novels are never less than entertaining' Sunday Times
'What better books to raise the spirits than the gentle, insightful Irish tales of Maeve Binchy?' HELLO! Magazine
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Readers love Firefly Summer . . .
***** 'Maeve Binchy never disappoints. I loved this book.'
***** 'Date I finished this book is impossible to say, as I've read it so many times.'
***** 'I loved this book! Such a great story!'
***** 'Firefly Summer keeps readers engaged with the quotidian but never dull lives of Irish village life.'
***** 'This is what good fiction does, gives you a story, draws you in, and won't let go and Binchy is at the height of her powers with this novel.'
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Binchy's latest novel (after Light a Penny Candle ) is set in the tiny Irish backwater of Mountfern, home to a handful of families and typical of hundreds of similar hamlets in the British Isles where life is lived to the rhythm of the seasons. Mountfern is the ancestral home of Patrick O`Neill, a rough, rich American whose wealth comes from bars and restaurants, and whose dream is to build a grand hotel in Mountfern. The consequences of Patrick's arrival there early in the '60s are often hilarious: the local aristocracyespecially the widows and spinstersvies for his attentions, while the villagers are beguiled by his largesse and by thoughts of the prosperity the hotel will bring. But tragedy strikes when a bulldozer working on the hotel site crushes Kate Ryan's spine; her adaptation to life in a wheelchair is brave and touching. Kate (Binchy's most splendid character) and her husband own a pub that is bound to suffer when the hotel opens. Other charactersall memorably portrayedcome to be resentful of the ``Yank's'' money while they reveal their own cupidity. Patrick's joy at his homecoming is slowly eroded, and his teenage son Kerry breaks hearts, including his father's. Binchy's lyrical prose has a lilt and musicality that makes it a joy to read. With a strong narrative drive that never flags, the story engages all the reader's emotions.
