Reviews

"Ambitious and intelligently conceived...A heart clinic is really the perfect metaphor for how this book feels. It's a warm and comfy world [and reading "Heart and Soul" is] not unlike getting a hug from your mother...Binchy's millions-strong readership...will not be disappointed." -William Kowalski, "The Globe and Mail" (Toronto)
"Oh, the bliss...Maeve's back, on top form...The heart is the theme, literally and metaphorically, and this is heartwarming stuff-sweet but never cloying." -"The Times
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"[Maeve Binchy] knows how to fashion a minor drama into a crisis, and the book rattles along from one gripping story to another, leaving the reader with a satisfying glow...It does exactly what it says on the tin: gives heart and soul." -"Daily Mail
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"["Heart and Soul"] brings together the secret hopes and dreams of a disparate group of characters...with [Binchy's] trademark warmth and empathy." -"Irish Sunday Independent"
"Maeve Binchy's latest novel is packed as usual with wonderful characters...Full of warmth, caring and commonsense." -"CHOICE"

Binchy delivers another delightful Binchyesque amalgamation of intersecting lives, this time centering on Clara Casey, a cardiologist whose marriage and career have fallen apart. After she accepts an undesirable post at St. Brigid's Hospital, Clara throws herself into work to forget the humiliation of her husband's many affairs, but it's difficult to escape her home life with two adult daughters who still depend on her as if they were children. Though she stands at the center of the book, Clara cedes the stage to others, such as Declan Carroll, a young doctor at the clinic trying to make a life for himself, and Ania, Clara's assistant, whose affair with a married man forced her to leave her Polish hometown. Beautiful, hardworking and humble, Ania attracts the attention of Carl Walsh, the son of one of the clinic's patients. And so it goes in this novel of intersecting lives that keeps daily drama interesting even when it occasionally sacrifices suspense for realism. In spite of a few dull moments, the collective, charming effect of these story lines suggests that individuals are more connected than they might think. (Mar.) Copyright 2008 Reed Business Information.