What a delightful read! It was a long book but so well written and such a good plot. There are two girls one from London who is young and living during the Blitz. As with many children she is sent away for safety reasons. This time though, she is not sent to the countryside in England, she is sent to a small town in Ireland where her mother's relatives are willing to keep her until it is safe to return to London. The family in Ireland has a daughter (and lots of other children) who is about the same age as the English girl. They become fast friends. This friendship is the focus of the whole book. Each girl is unique and a fully developed character. I found myself liking them both and cringing with their flaws and rooting them through the tough times of their lives.

Binchy is a fine writer and this was her debut novel. I've read several of her books and liked most of them. This sits at the top of my list along with Circle of Friends. I highly recommend it.

Excellent novel about a woman in Ireland who exchanges homes with a woman in America. I love Binchy's writing style.

This book came to me in such an unusual way that it is impossible to judge its contents without noting the story. I was riding the subway to work in NYC when I was in my early twenties, when a little, old, Chinese man tapped me on the shoulder. I looked up from my book and he asked me, in broken English, if I liked to read. I was taken aback by not only being touched by a stranger on the train, a no-no for regular NYC commuters, but by his seemingly random question. I gave him a quick nod and turned back to my book. He proceeded to tap me again and this time inquired as to the kind of books that I liked to read. I stumbled through an uncomfortable, wary answer feeling more than a little creeped out about his potential motive in engaging me in this way. Again, I looked back to my book and again he tapped my shoulder. This time he told me that he had a book for me. When I refused he insisted. We did about three rounds of this before I indicated that the next stop was mine and I was going to leave the train. As I stood to leave he pushed a coverless, hardback book into my hands. I couldn't see the title and had no idea what kind of book he was giving me. I have to admit that my imagination ran immediately to the deprave and I worried that he was giving me something pornographic or just plain yucky. As it turns out the book he gave me was this lovely novel. Nothing creepy; nothing pornographic or sadistic.

In my attempt to recover my karma and compensate for my untrusting and uncomfortable manner the day I received this book, when I finished reading it I gave it to someone else; a stranger on a NYC train. I will say that when I passed it on, the experience was less cryptic. I simply explained how the book had come to me and that I was passing it along in turn. I have no idea where this physical book went and what became of it, but I will always associate Tara Road with positive feelings and a warm memory.

A very well crafted and well told story.
The first parts of the book jump a little quickly through about 17 years worth of time and create a foundation for the rest of the story where about two months worth of time are covered in fascinating detail.
The main character of the story is a woman who just keeps going through everything life throws at her. She's sweet and a little naive. She loves very deeply. I became very attached to her and admired her for just doing the best she could. I wanted to shake some sense into those that hurt her.
There was an amazing cast of characters, women who dealt with different challenges in different ways or chose not to deal with them at all. I found the writing very insightful.
I'm not sure if the ending was entirely happy but it was mostly satisfying. A few people didn't get what they deserved, but when does anyone really?
This is the first book I've read by this author and I very much enjoyed her style.
Some violence. Some sex. Mild language. Everything kept to a PG-13 level. Themes of pretty much everything, adultery, abuse, drugs, drinking, miscarriage, mental illness, depression, etc.

Review to follow

Honestly-disappointed!! I have wanted to read this book for years because it has such a beautiful cover. I am shocked that this was an Oprah’s book club pick. I felt that all of the characters lacked depth, the dialogue was not how people talk, and there was no real wrap up at the end! 2.5 ⭐️

3.5 stars. I can see why I liked this book when I read it many years ago. I like the author’s writing style, especially the character development. I found the story long at times but overall quite enjoyable.

Really 3 and a half stars. It took it’s time getting to the main story, but once there it moved quickly.

Trata-se de uma história de mulheres. Mulheres que crescem e evoluem, mulheres que dão vida às casa, mulheres que conversam. Como escreveu Saramago, "[…] é a grande, interminável conversa das mulheres, parece coisa nenhuma, isto pensam os homens, nem eles imaginam que esta conversa é que segura o mundo na sua órbita […].”
É também uma história sobre amor e amizade; filhos e solidão; família e negócios. Mas, sobretudo, é uma história sobre perdas e a sua superação.

A nice departure from the usual Binchy, the house exchange was a breath of fresh air. But, don't worry; we're not totally off the expected path- there are plenty of infidelities to go around.

While Ria's placid acceptance of everything around her drove me crazy, I'll take that over Rosemary's calculated, duplicitous nature any day. Marilyn was probably my favourite - unforgiving but kind and incredibly strong. Like most of Binchy's men, Danny is smarmy and obvious, thinking only of himself.

Every mention of Quentin's makes me so happy because it puts me in familiar Binchy territory. I'm looking forward to n  Scarlet Feathern and n  Quentinsn. Colm seems familiar as well, but I'm not sure if I'm imagining that or not...

n  Tara Roadn continues the good feelings from n  Evening Classn and reminds me of the Binchy I was expecting when I started this massive undertaking. It's a little on the long side, and not enough happens to really justify the 600+ pages (did she have an editor?), but I enjoyed the read.

Review originally posted here on Britt's Book Blurbs.

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Could. Not. Put. It. Down!

Maeve Binchy is like a warm blanket and hot chocolate, she’s like coming home. A slice of Dublin life in the 80s.