From the New York Times bestselling author of
Circle of Friends and The Glass Lake comes
This Year It Will Be Different, a stunning new work
that brings us the magic and spirit of Christmas in
fifteen stories filled with Maeve Binchy's trademark wit,
charm, and sheer storytelling genius. Instead of
nostalgia, Binchy evokes contemporary life; instead of
Christmas homilies, she offers truth; and instead of
sugarplums, she brings us the nourishment of holidays that
precipitate change, growth, and new
beginnings.
In "A Typical Irish Christmas," a
grieving New York widower heads for a holiday in Ireland
and finds an unexpected destination not just for himself,
but for a father and daughter at odds. The title
story "This Year It Will Be Different" also delves into
the emotions of a person at mid-life--a woman with a
complacent husband and grown children who are entering a
season that can forever alter her life, and
theirs. In "Pulling Together," a teacher not yet out of
her twenties sees her affair with a married man at a
turning point as Christmas Eve approaches--and she may be
off on a new direction with some unusual friends. And in
the delightful tale "The Hard Core," the four most
recalcitrant residents of a nursing home are left alone at
Christmas with the owner's daughter in charge: the result
is sure to be disaster--or the kind of life-affirming
renewal that only the spirit of the season can
bring.
The stories in This Year It Will Be
Different powerfully evoke many lives--step-families
grappling with ex's, long-married couples faced with in-
law problems, a wandering husband choosing between "the
other woman" and his wife, a child caught in grown-up tugs-
of-war--during the one holiday when feelings cannot be
easily hidden. The time of year may be magical, imbued
with meaning. But the situations are universal. And Maeve
Binchy makes us care about them all. As the
Philadelphia Inquirer noted, "Maeve Binchy's people
come to life fully. They make you laugh and cry and
disturb your sleep." They do precisely that in this
extraordinary collection, on the night before Christmas
when we are snug in our beds, or anywhere, any time of the
year.
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