Nights of Rain and Stars by Maeve Binchy (the author))

Maeve Binchy (born 28 May 1940 Dalkey, County Dublin) is an Irish novelist, newspaper columnist and speaker. Educated at University College Dublin, she worked as a teacher then a journalist at The Irish Times and later became a writer of novels and short stories.

Many of her novels are set in Ireland, dealing with the tensions between urban and rural life, the contrasts between England and Ireland, and the dramatic changes in Ireland between World War II and the present day.

Her novel Circle of Friends was made into a 1995 Hollywood movie starring Chris O'Donnell and Minnie Driver with a radical change of ending.

Binchy announced in 2000 that she would not be going on tours with any more novels, but would be devoting her time to other activities, and to her husband, Gordon Snell, a children's author. She has written five further novels since then — Quentins, Nights of Rain and Stars, Whitethorn Woods, Heart and Soul and Minding Frankie (2010). She lives in Dalkey, not far from where she grew up.

In 1978, Binchy won a Jacob's Award for her RTÉ play, Deeply Regretted By. A second award went to the lead actor, Donall Farmer. A 1993 photograph of her by Richard Whitehead belongs to the collection of the National Portrait Gallery (London) and a painting of her by Maeve McCarthy, commissioned in 2005, is on display in the National Gallery of Ireland.

She is sister of William Binchy, Regius Professor of Laws at Trinity College, Dublin.

Maeve Binchy, author of Nights of Rain and Stars, talks with Nic Jones. Click on the image to listen to the interview and read the transcript.