Home >  A & E >  Books

Familiarity is double-edged sword for fans of Binchy

Sunday, November 24, 2002

By Kim Crow, Post-Gazette Staff Writer

The pop reading world shuddered last year when best-selling author Maeve Binchy said that 2002's "Scarlet Feather" would be her last novel. Luckily for her fans, this is not the case.

	INSERT TITLE Quentins By Maeve Binchy Dutton ($25.95)

Quentins restaurant is familiar to Binchy fans as an upscale place, run by the unflappable Patrick and Brenda Brennan, in which many a key scene from earlier books has occurred.

In her latest, we meet Ella Brady, a lovely cool-headed young lass who has fallen for the wrong man (an extremely familiar Binchy character -- the smooth, charming, slightly shady businessman). The love affair goes awry with disastrous results for Ella and everyone she knows.

Indeed, the ardent reader of Binchy's books will know most of the people whom Ella knows, for this one continues the tales of some of the author's best-loved characters:

Signora and Adrian from "Evening Class," Cathy and Tom from "Scarlet Feather" and Colm and Ria from "Tara Road."

Left bankrupt by her man, both emotionally and financially, Ella throws herself into helping friends make a documentary about Quentins, a once-modest restaurant that has become increasingly sophisticated over the course of 30 years, mirroring changes in Dublin itself.

She sets about collecting stories of customers who recall grand moments in their lives that were spent in the restaurant (the most touching is of a poor family whose daughter graduates from school with honors, and they go out to celebrate).

The stories do help fill out the thinly plotted novel, but they all are a little too pat to be truly memorable.

While it's always nice to run into an old friend, Binchy's latest also suffers from the familiarity fans have with the characters, meaning that some of the details just don't add up.

For instance, there's a scene in which Patrick and Brenda Brennan have a vicious argument soon after their restaurant opens; for consolation, she goes to her friend Colm's restaurant on Tara Road. The only problem with this is that Colm's restaurant doesn't open for at least 10 years after Quentins has ruled the Dublin dining scene (see "Tara Road" for Colm's story).

Little things such as this hurt "Quentins'" credibility, not to mention the lack of a compelling heroine. Ella's the victim here, and she loves it. Her dithering and ridiculous faith in a man who so completely deceives her, her family and most of Dublin leaves the reader irritated, rather than rooting her on.

Like Ella, this is not Binchy at her recent best. For that, pick up "Evening Class."

Kim Crow can be reached at kcrow@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1308.