The Copper Beech
Book - 1992
By the school house at Shancarrig stands a copper beech, its bark scarred with the names and dreams of the pupils who have grown up under its branches.
Under Junior Assistant Mistress Maddy Ross's careful gaze the children play, but out of school Maddy's gaze lingers where it shouldn't. Maura Brennan, a bundle of fun from the rough end of town, plays with her pals: leap year baby Eddie Barton, the apple of his mother's eye, and Nessa Ryan, who little realises as she carves his name at the roots of the copper beech on the very last day of school that she'll get a lot more from one of her schoolmates than her first shy kiss.
The copper beech is the gateway to Maeve Binchy's marvellous portrait of a small Irish town whose untroubled surface conceals the passions, rivalries, friendships, ambitions and jealousies beneath.
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Add a CommentAnother lovely set of connecting stories that do eventually connect through the three-room schoolhouse under the copper beech. One of the things I enjoyed about this--and i enjoy all of Binchy's work--is the very subtle message that when we are judging people, we are judging only on what let let us see. Good for YA readers as well as senior citizens, although the young teen may need a bit of encouragement to stick through the first 100 pages. Ireland in the 1940s through 1970.
I love Maeve Binchy's books such as Circle of Friends, Tara Road, Scarlett Feather but this one is a real dud. Stopped after 20 pages as it was very boring and I didn't want to force myself to read it just because it was Maeve Binchy's book.