Collects the best of the author's essays from five decades of the "Irish Times" to reflect a changing culture as well as her observations on such topics as the royal wedding, waitressing, and boring airline companions.

Best-selling author Maeve Binchy not only has many best-selling novels but she is also considered to be one of the finest literary authors of contemporary women's fiction. Set in Lough Glass, Ireland, The Glass Lake is an incandescent novel of family love, belonging, and secrets that flourish in the human heart. Lough Glass is the lake at the heart of the small Irish town that bears its name. Serene and dark, its waters harbor secrets as deep and...

Maeve Binchy has set her fifth novel in contemporary Ireland, in the little midland parish village of Shancarrig. There, a magnificent copper beech tree shades the school yard, its trunk bearing the names of dozens of Shancarrig school children. Each has a story that reveals the passions and dark secrets behind seemingly ordinary lives.