Customer Reviews
Excellent - By: Booklady, 16 Dec 2008 
Classic comfortable read from a feel good author. The main character, Clara was inspiring. There are no huge dramasin this book but so much that we can all relate toin our ordinary lives. Maeve Binchy is at her very best when she describes family life & relationships. I would have liked her to show us more of Clara's final romance but nothing is perfect. Very well worth buying.
A comforting, satisfying read! - By: J. Johns, 21 Oct 2008 I love Binchy's books & eagerly awaited this one. I wasn't disappointed - soon I was backin her world of quirky Irish characters. I didn't want this to end & felt the book stopped a little too soon. I loved the reference to characters from past books & the overlapping lives, making me remember the characters as friends I'd met long ago & were happy to be re-acquainted with. Binchy weaves a colourful, vivid tale that I most thoroughly enjoyed. If you like character driven novels, this one is for you!
Heart and soul - By: MrsB, 21 Oct 2008 I must admit that my favourite Maeve Binchy novel is Scarlet Feather so what joy to see how the twins are getting on. Still completing each others sentances. We meet new characters as well & they each have their own story. I like this format & I also like happy endings, so this book was a winner for me.
Too twee or not to twee that is the question? - By: M. Bohan, 16 Oct 2008 
I found this book had very little substance even the few dramasin it were quickly dispatched with. It was almost like a collection of short stories but with each one being interwoven with the next. As lovely as it is to always have happy endings (if only life was really like that) I found myself hoping for a bit of oomph & was disappointed.There are quite a few characters from previous novelsin it & if you have not read these books then some of their stories wont mean a lot to you. When I think of the early Maeve Binchy books that I have enjoyedin the past I am afraid that lately her work has been a bit of a let down for me.
Don't get me wrong, if you like your books to be full of really nice people, even the only nasty one came roundin the end, & predictable outcomes then you will enjoy this, but it really lacked an impact factor for me.
The competition of popular Irish women writers is too strong for Maeve to rest on her laurels & she should get back to the likes of "To Light a Penny Candle" & remind them & us of why she was the queen for so long.
Warm and real - By: Sissel M. Østdahl, 12 Oct 2008 It's something comforting about Maeve Binchy's books. The cliché about a book being like a good friend, is so very rightin her case. Of course, one is interestedin finding out what happens to the characters, but there is no hurry. In the case of this book, it is much more preferable to sit down with a cup of tea & read quietly a couple of hours before going to bed.
"Heart & Soul" is a book to be devoured & there are many actors on the stagein Dublin. First there is Clara Casey, senior cardiac specialist at a new heart clinic at St. Brigid's Hospital, Clara's two daughters Adi & Linda, whoin their twenties are having trouble settling down & finally her ex-husband Alan, who is asking Clara for a divorcein order to marry a much younger woman.
Coming to work at the clinic is also Ania, a young girl who has travelled from Polandin order to mend a broken heart. Young Doctor Declan Carroll was originally meant to spend a six-month posting but meats beautiful nurse Fiona. And then there is Father Bryan Flynn, whose life is turned upside down when his reputation is threatened.
Extra spice is added when we also meet old friends from both Scarlet Feather, Evening Class, Nights of Rain & Stars & Whitethorn Woods. Nora who is still always called Signora & Aidan, & Brenda at Quentins, where Declan takes Fiona out to dinner for the first time.
"Heart & Soul" is a book about ordinary people with ordinary lives. Joy & sorrow, struggle & hopes. And as always, the author shows us the importance of the small thingsin life - which often do not prove so small after all.
Maeve Binchy is a wonderful storyteller, who has once again written a book which grows on the reader & is slowly creeping into our heart & soul.
Enjoy!
