Binchy was appointed Women's Editor of The Irish Times in 1968, a job she held until 1973, when she was transferred to London as a columnist, feature writer and reporter. She resigned from the paper in the 1980s as her career as a novelist blossomed, but remained a regular contributor until her death last year.
This collection is entertaining and ambles through many subjects that caught Binchy's attention over a journalistic career spanning five decades. The writing style is not what you'd expect in a newspaper. It combines reporting, columnist-style observations and fiction-writing, sometimes all three in the same excerpt.
The topics are eclectic: travel and work anecdotes, observations of people's behaviour, her take on politicians and assorted British royals, personal recollections of favourite places, funny or odd events and an inside view of some of Binchy's career highlights.
She ranges from serious to hilarious and it's quite the page-turner.
She writes with compassion about people in less than ideal circumstances (such as loneliness or illness) or whose poor judgement has led them into misfortune or misery (such as bad relationships or family dysfunction) but does so in a way that reads like a fable rather than an account of real people. She makes a point about them or their situation without hurting anyone and her observations are insightful.
Binchy's ability to get to the heart of the matter is refreshing and she doesn't flinch from telling some hard truths. However, her delivery is never destructive and she aims for balance. Her musings on Prince Charles are a case in point.
She thought him arrogant and selfish, a man living in a narrow world, but goes on to say this about his marriage to Camilla: ''I can't be the only person in the world who doesn't think hereditary monarchy is a good idea but who still does genuinely wish these two confused middle-aged people a great wedding day and a good time together.''
She was clearly a person of warmth and wit and these qualities leap off the page, especially when gently sending herself (or others) up for some foible or another.
- Caroline Hunter is an ODT subeditor.
