BLOGWORDS – Tuesday 4 November 2025 – TUESDAY REVIEWS-DAY – BOOK REVIEW – QUENTINS by MAEVE BINCHY

BLOGWORDS – Tuesday 4 November 2025 – TUESDAY REVIEWS-DAY – BOOK REVIEW – QUENTINS by MAEVE BINCHY

TUESDAY REVIEWS-DAY - BOOK REVIEW – QUENTINS by MAEVE BINCHY

 

THE BOOK

 

 THE BLURB

Ella Brady wants to film a documentary about Quentins that will capture the spirit of Dublin from the 1970s to the present day. After all, the restaurant saw the people of a city become more confident in everything from their lifestyles to the food that they chose to eat. And Quentins has a thousand stories to tell. But as Ella uncovers more of what has gone on at Quentins, she begins to wonder whether some secrets should be kept that way...  

THE AUTHOR

Maeve Binchy was born in County Dublin and educated at the Holy Child convent in Killiney and at University College, Dublin. After a spell as a teacher she joined the IRISH TIMES. Her first novel, Light A Penny Candle, was published in 1982 and she went on to write over twenty books, all of them bestsellers. Several have been adapted for cinema and television, including Tara Road. Maeve Binchy received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Book Awards in 1999 and the Irish PEN/A.T. Cross award in 2007. In 2010 she was presented with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bord Gáis Irish Book Awards by the President of Ireland. She was married to the writer and broadcaster Gordon Snell for 35 years, and died in 2012.

 

MY REVIEW

Ms. Binchy has long been a favorite author, and Quentins does not disappoint.

Deftly woven together, she crafts otherwise unconnected stories and anecdotes into one rich, cohesive story.

Ella Brady is the glue that cements the pieces into that single cohesive story.

I have to admit, I wanted to shake some sense into Ella. I’ve done some careless, okay, stupid things. But having an affair with a married man isn’t one of them. And then to discover what Don had done. [SPOILER]

Ms. Binchy tosses in random bits about different Quentins patrons, and at first it threw me. But then I realized that would be kind of how it would be presented in the film.

I appreciated Brenda and Patrick, who were rather like anchors in the story. Ella’s friend, Deirdre, but Nuala was a different story. I liked Derry from the moment Ella met him. And Blouse, I love how he bloomed.

In the end, Ms. Binchy threw in quite the curve ball. [SPOILER] A curve ball that makes total sense to the story.

 

 

ROBIN’S FEATHERS

FOUR FEATHERS

 

 

 

I purchased this book and give my review of my own free will. The opinions expressed in my review are my own honest thoughts and reaction to this book.

 

 

 

#Blogwords, Tuesday Reviews-Day, #TRD, Book Review, Quentins, Maeve Binchy, Light a Penny Candle, Tara Road, Glass Lake