Four tourists, from Germany, America, England and Ireland, are brought together in a tiny village in Greece when a local tragedy upends their travel plans. Each of them is running away from something, and over the course of this slight book we learn their stories. The need to advance four plot lines simultaneously leads to pretty shallow character development and rather too-pat solutions to their "problems," so this isn't my favorite Binchy. Like many of her later books, it's a bit too episodic and disjointed to really pull me in. ( )

I've always enjoyed the simple sweetness of Binchy's books. This was another pretty vanilla offering - a group of people finding meaningful relationships all at once. I'm not sure if it was more slowly paced than other books of Binchy's that I've read, or if it was my own frame of mind at the time of reading. Not bad, but nothing really memorable.
( )

Concept of the story is nice: being on an extended stay on a Greek island, getting involved in the lives of others visiting, learning how close small town people care for each other. Loved the shop owner for his nice ways and absolutely liked the know-it-all Vonni with her ability to get each person to do what is right. Had no respect for Fiona with her idea of loyalty to a cruel man. Thomas with his son in California was too self centered about himself. Elsa and David at least seemed more like real people. ( )

Please note that I gave this book 2.5 stars but rounded it to 3 stars on Goodreads.

WHY??????

Seriously. I ended up buying this on vacation because I got a kick out of it taking place in Greece. And what would not go better than reading a Maeve Binchy book in Greece while I was in Greece?

I should have none better.

We have classic Binchy following multiple people who reassess their own lives after coming to Greece and seeing the effect a fatal boat accident has on a small Greek town (Aghia Anna).

We follow four main characters, Fiona, Thomas, Elsa, and David.

Fiona who is Irish, has quit her job as a nurse in Ireland and decided to go traveling with her druggy boyfriend Shane. I have no idea how Fiona fell on her head and lost her common sense but there it is. We get a reveal about the abuse that Shane has dealt to Fiona and I thought the way this whole storyline wrapped up was not believable at all.

Thomas who is American, is traveling the world escaping how angry and lost he feels now that his ex-wife is remarried and his son is getting adjusted to a new stepdad. Thomas is an ass. He is quite ugly about his ex-wife and her new husband Andy because they like to work out and keep in shape. Since Thomas is an academic he acts like they must be the dumbest people on Earth.

Elsa who is German, has quit her job at a German television news station because she wants her boyfriend Deiter to do whatever she asks without question. Seriously. This whole storyline sucked frankly. And I was quite tired of people and Elsa talking about how beautiful she was. I kept rolling my eyes.

David who is English, has gone traveling because he hates how his father is a successful businessman and he is one of these 20 year olds that thinks that money sucks, unless you need it.

Sorry to be so harsh but really, none of these people had a clue and since they come from different nationalities and age groups it was ridiculous how they behaved. They all get obsessed with a local woman named Vonni (formerly of Ireland) and pry into her history. Instead of maybe listening to what she was saying and her actions, I don't think any of them learned a thing.

The writing was rough in a lot of places and once again I found myself getting bored.

The setting of Greee was so disappointing. As someone who just traveled there, Binchy fails to capture the small towns in Greece, the food, the culture, everything. It was just about four self absorbed people who wanted to stay in this town, because things seemed to quaint and simple there. Let's forget the whole town is dealing with a lot of deaths.

The ending left a bad taste in my mouth because you still had Fiona and David bad mouthing their family somewhat and Elsa and Thomas's ridiculous ending too. ( )

A wonderfully lush story of foreigners finding one another and forming deep friendship. ( )