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Book reviews ... Author interviews ... and anything else I think might be of interest to writers and readers.

Sunday 29 June 2008

The Maeve Binchy ...

... Writers' Club

After my previous post a couple of people asked if this book was any good. So, in the interests of providing a public service, I thought I'd do a proper review of it.

I'm a big fan of Maeve Binchy's novels, although I must confess to not having read the last couple. It has been said that reading one of her novels is like going out for a coffee with a friend, pulling your chair up to the table and settling down for a good chat and to catch up on all the gossip.

This book feels the same, although here Maeve isn't telling a story - she's imparting her years of knowledge about writing in the common sense down to earth way that you would expect.

Throughout the book, Maeve's own observations and advice are interspersed with contributions from carefully selected experts in the various subjects she discusses. The areas include: writing short stories; the role of the editor; writing for stage; murder, mystery and suspense, and many others.

As an added bonus, you also get a new short story by Maeve Binchy written especially for the book. It's worth reading just for that.

And let's face it, wouldn't it be fantastic if Maeve Binchy set up a real life writers' club and we could all be members?