Maeve Binchy's heart-warming tales of love, life and loss made her one of the world's best-loved storytellers. Her novels, which sold more than 40 million copies worldwide, captured imaginations on both sides of the Atlantic in a way that most authors only dream of. In this extraordinary biography, illustrated with 44 photographs, Piers Dudgeon reveals that the inspiration for many of her stories came from Maeve's own hard-won experience growing up in Ireland. In the land of her birth and setting of her novels, she endured a difficult adolescence and famously lost her faith before coming to terms with who she was and expressing at last the qualities that would come to define her both as a writer and a person. 'A remarkable insight into the private life of the much-loved author.' Irish Independent 'This sensitive and comprehensive biography is a celebration of the talent, optimism and humanity of a much-loved author who brought so much pleasure to many.' Good Book Guide 'A loving tribute to the popular Irish writer. Piers Dudgeon, who has written biographies of writers Barbara Taylor Bradford, J.M. Barrie and Daphne du Maurier, does a deft job juxtaposing the allegorical nature of Binchy's fiction to events in her life... Dudgeon delivers a love letter penned to the late author and her fiction... Fans will find new insight to their favorite Binchy works.' USA Today 'Dudgeon paints Binchy as a lively and vivacious lover of life in this warm and often humorous record of a woman who was determined to be her own person.' Irish Post