Mostly because we were able to see her adapt to a new country, family, and culture and see her change there—which doesn't happen at all in the rest of the novel, and when Eileen changes her mind about her daughter's separation from her husband it doesn't seem anyone cares anyway. Maeve Binchy has always been an author recommended to me, but this is the first time I’ve actually dedicated time to reading one of her books. She becomes best friends with Aisling as they are almost the same age and it becomes clear this book will be all about their further adventures in life.

According to the Irish Examiner, the title comes from a lyric in the Arthur Colahan song " Galway Bay", which was popularized by American singer Bing Crosby in a 1947 recording. Although she described herself as an overweight child, her parents' attitude gave her the confidence to accept herself for who she was. I actually went back to read the first chapter after finishing the book so that it came full circle.Through twenty years of friendship Aisling O’Connor and Elizabeth White’s paths will cross and re-cross. But there is also always something extra to learn, perhaps something to add to one's own way of dealing with life. An intensely rich and full aroma leading with crisp top notes of bergamot, lemon leaf and warming spices, enhanced by fresh eucalyptus, tender lavender and summer geranium. Writing with warmth, wit and great compassion, Maeve Binchy tells a magnificent story of the lives and loves of two women, bound together in a friendship that nothing could tear asunder – not even the man who threatened to come between them forever. But though the writing has energy and drive, the themes never are really given their due, the characters are introduced and barely slip out of a form character for the rest of the novel (which is meant to be 20 years of their lives), there isn't really any consequences to their actions, and I felt like the whole things was a bit shallow.

It was what I’d expected in the beginning and had given up on, and when it came I found it the least believable and most unsatisfying part of the book.Evacuated from Blitz-battered London, shy and genteel Elizabeth White is sent to stay with the boisterous O’Connors in Kilgarret, Ireland.

I would much rather recommend reading one of her other works such as, “Evening Class”, “Circle of Friends”, or “Quentins”. Though her parents were nervous sending her alone to Middle East, she went and worked in kibbutz where she picked oranges and tugged chickens.Although the characters, Aisling and Elizabeth, are very very different from each other, they complement each other well and support one another in the most perfect and beautiful way. In the United States, the novel was published in hardcover by Viking Press in 1982 and in paperback by Dell Publishing in 1989. Itallstarted with a scene Maeve had observed as she travelled into work from her home in west London to the Irish Times office in Fleet Street. Her first book Light a Penny Candle is a story of two girls, Elizabeth and Aisling, who experiences the relationship of friendship during difficult period of World War II.