Friendship

Maeve Binchy just tells a good story, and Circle of Friends was no exception and possibly one of her best. Bernie and Eve become friends as young girls, and we follow their lives as they move into the world, finding love and joy and heartbreak. Through it all, the two girls support each other. Binchy creates complex characters navigating life's ups and downs while also giving us insight into how ancient social structures still continue to impact life in Ireland. We can usually anticipate a happy ending as well where the good guys triumph. Excellent read! ( )

Absolutely wonderful, I loved every bit of it. ( )

Benny Jogan y Eve Malone han sido mejores amigas desde la infancia. En el apacible pueblo de Knockglen, donde todo el mundo se conoce, su amistad ha sido un soplo de aire fresco dentro del ambiente tradicional y opresivo en el que han crecido. Con su acceso a la universidad, una nueva etapa de libertad e independencia les espera y también un nuevo círculo de amigos. El primer día de clase conocerán a dos personas que cambiarán sus vidas: el apuesto Jack Foley y la bella Nan Mahon, cuya desmesurada ambición será una fuente de problemas. Porque, en Dublín, estas amigas conocerán la pasión y encontrarán la libertad y la independencia ansiadas, pero también la cara más amarga de la aventura.

Benny (Bernadette) Hogan is 10 years old and expectant about her birthday party. She hopes that she will receive a velvet dress and shoes with pom poms for her birthday. Unfortunately she is a large girl and her overprotective parents dress her in dark colors with sensible cuts. She makes a friend of Eve Malone, an orphan who is being raised by Mother Francis and the nuns at St. Marys convent. The two girls are inseparable until it comes time for them to leave for college in Dublin. Benny is going, but Eve is to do a secretarial course in Dublin while living in Mother Clare's convent there. Unfortunately, things do not work out well with Mother Clare and Eve is hospitalized after she is hit in an accident. This gives her time to think about school. She determines to get the money for her college from her estranged cousin Simon Westward. The two girls meet several new people on their first days in Dublin: Jack Foley, a doctor's son and astonishingly handsome; Nan Mahon, a beautiful girl and daughter of a drunken and abusive builder; Aiden Lynch, Jack's soccer friend from high school; Bill Dunne, another soccer friend; and two girls, Rebecca and Sheila who have set their cap for Jack Foley. The entire story takes place in 1957-58 in Knockglen and Dublin, Ireland. ( )