Ria and Marilyn have never met – they live thousands of miles apart, separated by the Atlantic Ocean: one in a big, warm, Victorian house in Tara Road, Dublin, the other in a modern, open-plan house in New England.
Two more unlikely friends would be hard to find: Ria’s life revolves around her family and friends, while Marilyn’s reserve is born of grief. But when each needs a place to escape to, a house exchange seems the ideal solution.
Along with the borrowed houses come neighbours and friends, gossip and speculation as Ria and Marilyn swap lives for the summer…
Read by Kate Binchy
(p) 1998 Orion Publishing Group
Two more unlikely friends would be hard to find: Ria’s life revolves around her family and friends, while Marilyn’s reserve is born of grief. But when each needs a place to escape to, a house exchange seems the ideal solution.
Along with the borrowed houses come neighbours and friends, gossip and speculation as Ria and Marilyn swap lives for the summer…
Read by Kate Binchy
(p) 1998 Orion Publishing Group
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Reviews
Two women, one from Dublin one from New England, end up on a house swap for the summer and find their lives changed for ever. Another tale with strong female characters and the importance of friendship. As always there are a host of characters to keep the interest going and plenty to make the reader question the nature of relationships
Engrossing
An irresistible tale
In TARA ROAD the extraordinary Maeve Binchy spins an irresistible tale of modern life, creating a world so packed with telling details and emotional perspicacity that you feel instantly connected to the heartbroken Ria Lynch and Marilyn Vine
A tender novel of the pleasures and pitfalls of friendship, TARA ROAD is an ultra-modern
love story for women, about women, between women that is sure to delight
She is the Queen of Fiction and one of the funniest and best-loved storytellers in the world...once you read Maeve you are hooked for life
Absorbing and delightful
Full of characteristic humour and warmth, a lovely read
You can see why, for a legion of female readers, Maeve Binchy is a one-woman opiate of the people
TARA ROAD, even years later, is still everything you want in a Maeve Binchy book. It's moving, original, funny and entertaining...It's the same skill shown in their craft by Irish writers such as Marian Keyes and Sally Rooney. A rare gift
Moving, original, funny and entertaining... It's the same skill shown in their craft by Irish writers such as Marian Keyes and Sally Rooney. A rare gift.
Maeve Binchy's novels are just the kind of comforting companions so many women can't wait to take to bed ... Binchy's prose flows as naturally as conversation with a good friend
Maeve Binchy's work continues to inspire ... thought-provoking, warm and funny in equal measure
What is Maeve Binchy's magic? Every time she publishes a novel the race is on to the armchair or the poolside seat, telephones fall eerily silent . . . Her great gift is to suck her reader into the drama of everyday lives without fuss . . . She relies on dialogue and on keeping up a cracking pace
There is always a moment of mild astonishment when you turn the final page of a Maeve Binchy novel and look up, only to discover that the characters don't actually live in your house
Binchy is a consummate storyteller who involves the reader in the world she creates ... Binchy is a Dickens: she writes about the dilemmas of human beings with a backdrop which describes the manners and morals of a society
She is one of the few writers who can pull at your heartstrings . . . The author's great skill is to draw you into the world she creates, so that reading her books is like gossiping with old friends