Description: "They met in cooking school and became fast friends with a common
dream. Now Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather hope to take Dublin by storm with
their newly formed catering company, aptly dubbed 'Scarlet Feather.' Not
everyone, however, shares their optimism. Cathy's mother-in-law disapproves
of both Cathy and her new 'hobby,' while Cathy's husband, Neil, pays no mind
to anything - except his work as a civil rights lawyer. And then there's
Tom's family, who expects him to follow in his father's footsteps, and an
ambitious girlfriend who's struggling with career dreams of her own. Between
friends and families, ups and downs, heartaches and joys, Cathy Scarlet and
Tom Feather are about to embark on the most maddening - and exhilarating -
year of their lives...."
This Year It Will Be Different
Description: "From the New York Times bestselling author of Circle
of Friends, The Glass Lake, and Evening Class comes a stunning
collection of fifteen Christmas stories filled with Maeve Binchy's trademark
wit, charm, and sheer storytelling genius. In 'A Typical Irish Christmas,' a
grieving widower heads for a holiday in Ireland and finds an unexpected
destination not just for himself, but for a father and daughter in crisis....
In 'Pulling Together,' a teacher not yet out of her twenties sees her affair
with a married man at a turning point as Christmas Eve approaches....And in
the title story, 'This Year It Will Be Different,' a woman with a complacent
husband and grown children enters a season that will forever alter her life,
and theirs....
"These stories, and a dozen more, powerfully evoke many lives - from
step-families grappling with exes to children caught in grown-up tugs-of war -
during the one holiday when feelings cannot be easily hidden. The time of
year may be magical, imbued with meaning. But the situations are timeless.
And Maeve Binchy makes us care about them all."
