Kate Binchy

Noel and Lisa are among the most supportive parents at the nursery school. Never late to pick up their little girl, always patient and delighted to see her at the end of the day. But in fact neither of them are Frankie's parents. They have no blood relationship at all to this little girl.

Kate Ryan and her husband, John, have a rollicking pub in the Irish village of Mountfern, four lovely children, and such wonderful dreams. But all that changes one fateful summer when American millionaire Patrick O?Neill comes to town with his irresistible charm and money to burn. As love and hate vie for a town?s quiet heart, old traditions begin to crumble away. Patrick O?Neill means to build the grand hotel of his dreams, with its promise of wealth...

An old copper beech overlooks a school, and witnesses all the hopes and loves, dreams and ambitions of the children who grew up there ... By the school house at Shancarrig stands a copper beech, its bark scarred with the names and dreams of the pupils who have grown up under its branches. Under Junior Assistant Mistress Maddy Ross's careful gaze the children play, but out of school Maddy's gaze lingers where it shouldn't. Maura Brennan, a bundle of...

The Italian evening class at Mountainview School is like hundreds of others starting up all over the city. But this class has its own special quality - as the focus for the varied hopes and dreams of teacher and pupils alike. Aidan Dunne needs his new evening class project to succeed almost as much as his pupils do. They too are looking for something more: Bill to find a way to keep spendthrift Lizzie at his side, and Fran to make sure that young...