Author | Maeve Binchy |
---|---|
Country | Ireland |
Language | English |
Genre | Novel |
Publisher | Orion Books |
Publication date | 2002 |
Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
Quentins is a 2002 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. The title refers to Quentins Restaurant, a fictional upscale dining establishment in central Dublin, Ireland. The restaurant was referenced numerous times in previous Binchy titles; this novel explores its 30-year history as well as the lives of its patrons. The novel was produced as a BBC Word for Word audiobook in 2003.
Ella Brady, a young science teacher, falls in love with a handsome, suave businessman (Don Richardson) who is married but assures her that his marriage is "dead". For some time she is happy with the torrid affair, and manages to overlook some inconsistencies in what he tells her. Until the moment when he is exposed as a corrupt swindler and runs away out of the country and out of her life – leaving Ella, her family, and many people in Dublin without their savings. Ella is disgraced and quits her teaching job to work more than 60 hours a week at Quentins restaurant, with the Scarlet Feather catering company, and with a film crew, to help out her family.
The book mostly concentrates on Ella's attempt to get funding for her friends' film company for a documentary about the restaurant Quentins. She struggles to get over Richardson, whom she still loves, and with whether or not to give the fraud squad access to a laptop he left in her possession. Eventually, her efforts to get funding lead her to meet a new man, Derry King, an American businessman with an Irish heritage which he hates because of the way his drunken Irish father treated him and his mother.
Smaller plot points revolve around the background of Patrick and Brenda Brennan (the managers of Quentins), Quentin himself, Ella's girlfriends Deirdre and Nuala, and many of the regulars at the restaurant; the main plot is interspersed with various vignettes in the lives of people who had been in contact with the restaurant in one way or another, these interweaving with each other and with Ella Brady's life in various unpredictable ways.
The novel explores themes of love, family, friendship, and the benefits of hard and honest work. It also examines the "economy-driven Ireland" of the late 20th and early 21st century, as well as themes of celibacy and infertility. [1] The idea of Dublin as a village rather than a city is reinforced, as Binchy reveals it to be "a place where everyone knows everyone and no one's secrets are safe". [1]
Quentins features appearances by characters from previous Binchy novels, including: [2] [3]
On a humorous note, the novel also explains why the name Quentins is spelled without an apostrophe. [4]
Quentins is Binchy's 13th book. [5] In 2000 she announced that her upcoming novel, Scarlet Feather , would be her last; [5] [6] she also retired as a columnist at The Irish Times . [1] While she decided to forego writing "big novels", with Quentins she continued producing short stories that link together to advance the plot. [1]
Binchy's cousin, Kate Binchy, narrated the book for a BBC Word for Word audiobook (2003). [7]
Anne Maeve Binchy Snell was an Irish novelist, playwright, short story writer, columnist, and speaker. Her novels were characterised by a sympathetic and often humorous portrayal of small-town life in Ireland, and surprise endings. Her novels, which were translated into 37 languages, sold more than 40 million copies worldwide. Her death at age 73, announced by Vincent Browne on Irish television late on 30 July 2012, was mourned as the death of one of Ireland's best-loved and most recognisable writers.
Brenda Fricker is an Irish actress, whose career has spanned six decades on stage and screen. She has appeared in more than 30 films and television roles. In 1990, she became the first Irish actress to win an Academy Award, earning the award for Best Supporting Actress for the biopic My Left Foot (1989). She also appeared in films such as The Field (1990), Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), So I Married an Axe Murderer (1993), Angels in the Outfield (1994), A Time to Kill (1996), Veronica Guerin (2003), Inside I'm Dancing (2004) and Albert Nobbs (2011).
The Glass Lake is a 1994 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. The action takes place in a rural Irish village as well as in London in the 1950s. It is notable as the last of Binchy's novels to be set in the 1950s. Binchy explores the roles of women in Irish society and inconstant lovers, and uses an operatic plot to hold the reader's attention.
Maeve Brennan was an Irish short story writer and journalist. She moved to the United States in 1934 when her father was assigned by the Department of Foreign Affairs to the Irish Legation in Washington, D.C. She was an important figure in both Irish diaspora writing and in Irish literature itself. Collections of her articles, short stories, and a novella have been published.
Evening Class is a 1996 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. It was adapted as the award-winning film Italian for Beginners (2000) by writer-director Lone Scherfig, who failed to formally acknowledge the source, although at the very end of the closing credits is the line 'with thanks to Maeve Binchy'.
Scarlet Feather is a 2000 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. It was the winner of the 2001 WH Smith Literary Award for Fiction.
Light a Penny Candle is a 1982 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. Her debut novel, it follows the friendship between an English girl and an Irish girl over the course of three decades, beginning with the English girl's stay in Ireland during the Blitz. It is one of Binchy's best-known novels.
Circle of Friends is a 1990 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. Set in Dublin, as well as in the fictitious town of Knockglen in rural Ireland during the 1950s, the story centres on a group of university students. The novel was adapted into a 1995 feature film directed by Pat O'Connor.
Tara Road is a 2005 film directed by Gillies MacKinnon. It is based on the 1998 novel of the same name by Maeve Binchy.
Firefly Summer is a 1987 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. Set in an Irish small town, this third novel by Binchy depicts the changes that affected the country in the late twentieth century. BBC Radio 4 produced a 6-episode, 3-hour dramatization of the novel in 2008.
Circle of Friends is a 1995 film directed by Irish filmmaker Pat O'Connor, and based on the 1990 novel of the same name written by Maeve Binchy.
The Copper Beech is a 1992 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. Set in the 1950s and 1960s, the storyline follows the lives of 12 characters living in a small Irish town, in chapters with interlocking plot elements. The novel was recorded as a BBC audiobook in 2007.
Heart and Soul is a 2008 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. The plot centers around what Binchy terms "a heart failure clinic" in Dublin and the people involved with it. Several characters from Binchy's previous novels, including Evening Class, Scarlet Feather, Quentins, and Whitethorn Woods, make appearances.
An Eye for an Eye is a novel by Anthony Trollope written between 13 September and 10 October 1870, but held back from publication until August 1878 when serialization began in the Whitehall Review. Publication in the form of a two volume novel was timed to coincide with the issue of the final serialized episodes in January 1879.
Echoes is a 1985 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. As Binchy's second novel, it explores various themes of Irish small-town life, including social classes and expectations, the paucity of educational opportunities before the introduction of free secondary education in 1967, and women's roles. A four-part television miniseries was adapted from the novel in 1988.
Nights of Rain and Stars is a 2004 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy.
Gordon Snell is a British author of children's literature and scriptwriter. He was married to Irish author Maeve Binchy from 1977 until her death in 2012. He lives in the home that he shared with his late wife in Dalkey, outside of Dublin, Ireland.
Minding Frankie is a 2010 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy.
Silver Wedding is a 1988 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. Set in London, Dublin, and the west of Ireland in the year 1985, the novel explores the lives and inner feelings of a couple and their family and friends who are about to celebrate the couple's 25th wedding anniversary.
Chestnut Street is a 2014 short story collection by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. It was published posthumously by her husband, Gordon Snell. It contains 36 short stories, the majority never before published, which Binchy had written over a period of decades. Each story centers around a different resident or family living on or connected to the fictional Chestnut Street in Dublin.