Bestselling Irish Author Maeve Binchy Dies at 72

Posted on July 31, 2012

The BBC reports that bestselling Irish author Maeve Binchy has died at the age of 72. There are more than 40 million of her books in print. Bestsellers such as The Lilac Bus, Tara Road and Circle of Friends have been translated into 37 languages. A former journalist for The Irish Times, she wrote her first novel in her spare time. Light and Penny Candle was rejected by five publishers before finally being published in 1982. It was an instant bestseller. Several of her books were made into movies.

Tributes to her have been pouring in today. Irish President Michael D. Higgins said, "She was an outstanding novelist, short story writer and columnist who engaged millions of people all around the world with her fluent and accessible style," adding that he was "deeply saddened" by her death. Ian Rankin tweeted, "Maeve Binchy was a gregarious, larger than life, ebullient recorder of human foibles and wonderment." Novelist Marian Keyes wrote: "I'm so so sad to hear that Maeve Binchy has died. She was so full of life, so funny, so interested in people, so kind and so good to all of us writers, who came after her. She was a beautiful generous person and a beautiful generous writer."

Binchy's latest A Week in Winter will be published later this year.