A brand new novel from one of our favorite best-selling authors!
Synopsis:
The town of Rossmore is a special place, full of character and charm. Nestled beside the Whitethorn Woods, the town has grown since the days when it was small and friendly and everyone knew everyone else; now it has chain stories and traffic problems and housing estates. But still, there are the woods, full of spiky bushes and criss-crossed with paths; and there's St Ann's Well, where generations have come to pray or make wishes or just to look back at the pretty little town. Which is why there is going to be such a fuss about the plans for the new motorway. It's going to by-pass Rossmore, cutting through Whitethorn Woods and endangering the well itself. The new road will bring jobs and relieve traffic in the town; for others, it will destroy businesses and leave the town a backwater. The people of Rossmore are divided. There is a lot of land standing in the way of the great road of progress. Quite by accident the decision rests on Neddy Nolan - the most honest man in Rossmore. A man determined to do the right thing.

NOTE: This book will be published on August 23rd in Gt. Britain. To pre-order the hard cover edition, please click Whitethorn WoodsUK.

It will be not be published in the USA until March 2007. If you don’t mind the wait, click Whitethorn WoodsUSA.


Book Review: Scarlet Feather
by Judith Flynn

Maeve has done it again. A verbal, colorful, comforter of family and friends (and a few not so friendly) to delight the reader.

Binchy possesses a magical way of drawing the reader into the mix and making you wish that you could be a part of it all. If you enjoy a love story, there is more than one and a surprise ending - intrigue, there is that too - adventure, a wee bit of that, kids that say the darndest things, and oh, a mother-in-law you would love to hate but just end up realizing she is human and - surprise - in the end I began to like her in an odd sort of way.

The Round Towers of Ireland are remarkable among the world's ancient monuments; one author has called them 'Elegant, free-standing pencils of stone.' Today, 65 survive in part or whole. Hand-crafted in native stone and cemented with a sand, lime, horsehair and oxblood mortar - a technique imported from Roman Britain - it's said by many historians that they were built by monastic communities to thwart Viking invaders. And yet, there's reason to believe that the towers were built long before Christianity came to Ireland. Whatever their origins, monasteries did indeed flourish where the round towers existed. And why not. These imposing edifices provided a watch tower, a keep and a refuge.
Image: By kind permission of Stephen Cassidy, The Cassidy Clan.


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