Product Description

In a Greek taverna, high over the small village of Aghia Anna, four people meet for the first time: Fiona, an Irish nurse, Thomas, a Californian academic; Elsa, a German television presenter; and David a shy English boy. Along with Andreas, the old man who runs the taverna, they become close to each other after witnessing a tragedy when a pleasure steamer catches fire in the harbour. NIGHTS OF RAIN AND STARS is the story of one summer when Fiona, Thomas, Elsa and David all have to face the particular life crisis which first made them leave their homes and end up in Greece. With the help of Vonni, a middle-aged Irish woman who lives in the village and is now a near-native, they each find a solution - although not necessarily the one they anticipated...

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #193987 in Books
• Published on: 2005-06-29
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

Review
A short story by Maeve will appear in WOMAN'S WEEKLY August Fiction Special Maeve has written the column Age of Enlightenment for THE TIMES T2 supplement (date tbc) Interview with Maeve for the SATURDAY TELEGRAPH Heaven & Hell column in the travel section Reviews are confirmed in WOMAN, WOMAN'S OWN, BEST, CHOICE

About the Author
Maeve Binchy was born in County Dublin and came to fame first as London Correspondent for the IRISH TIMES. Her first novel, LIGHT A PENNY CANDLE, made her famous in the UK and USA. She lives in County Dublin with her husband, Gordon Snell.

Customer Reviews

A pleasant read
A huge fan of Maeve Binchy I picked this book up at the airport because of her famous name and reputation. I didn't even bother reading the back. The plot of the book is a bit unrealistic. A group of people are thrown together on a Greek island and become best friends in a matter of days. However I really liked the Greek setting which reminded me of sun amd summer - anything that brightens up the winter has to be a good thing. The one character I found annoying in the book was a meddling woman called Vonnie who took it upon herself to administer advice to everybody whethere it was asked for or not. The other characters were interesting enough and I liked the way they were all running away from something and realised that even if you run away, your problems have a habit of running after you! I also liked the way Irish nurse Fiona eventually saw the light regarding her abusive boyfriend. If you want to while away this Christmas curled up by the fire, you could do worse than reading this book. Ok, it might not be Binchy's best book ever, but it's still much better than what's out there on the shelves. And your mum will enjoy it too!

Very shallow
I haven't finished this book yet but I am very disappointed with it so far. The characters are very two-dimnensional and so contrived. The way they meet and interact with each other has no depth and is frankly unbelieveable. The conversations are stilted..in fact it is hard to find much good to say about it. It is as if it has been written by a different person.

Disappointing read
I was extremely disappointed with this latest edition to Maeve Binchy's works. Unlike all her other books, it had no great detail or excitement to hold the reader. All the characters seem rather plain and weak. Vonni - the local agony aunt, was particularly annoying! It lacked a good story line and having just spent two weeks in the Greek Isles, I felt that it captured none of the magic of Greece.