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Firefly Summer

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Firefly Summer

By: Maeve Binchy
Narrated by: Kate Binchy
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About this listen

 'FIREFLY SUMMER is warm, humorous, sad and happy. Reading it is a joy' Irish Independent

In the summer of 1962, an American millionaire arrives in a small, sleepy Irish town with far-reaching consequences.

For the children of the Ryan family, the long hot summers are usually spent playing in the ruins of a large, abandoned house. But when the American, Patrick O'Neill, buys the ruins, dreams are made and broken and secrets which should never be revealed are betrayed.

Firefly Summer tells interlocking stories of love lost and won during four fateful years in the life of a close-knit Irish community.

Read by Kate Binchy

(p) 1987 Audible Ltd©1987 Maeve Binchy Contemporary Family Life Fiction Genre Fiction Holidays Women's Fiction Witty
All stars
Most relevant

What made the experience of listening to Firefly Summer the most enjoyable?

Kate Binchy's narration is fantastic

What other book might you compare Firefly Summer to, and why?

The Casual Vacancy - good story with the gritty bits of death, serious injury and human frailty

What does Kate Binchy bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you had only read the book?

Kate reads well, she gives voices to the characters that you recognise. I have listened to a few books via Audible now, and I think there is something special there wih Kate's reading. I am only downloading Meave Binchy books read by Kate at the moment - although I listened to a Week in Winter and enjoyed Caroline Lennon too!

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

When Kate Ryan got hit by the JCB. I listen to the book walking the dogs, my knees went weak.

Any additional comments?

Oh dear, this has made me very lazy, I hardly read at all now. But, I can listen in the car, listen walking the dogs - places where you could not read - so I am multi tasking - using all my senses!

A lovely story, yet with all the gritty bits

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Took me little longer to get into than some other Maeve Binchy books, but was worth sticking with! As usual some fantastic characters develop during this book, really enjoyed it!

Another cracker by Maeve Binchy

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This turned out differently than I thought, and for the better. It really captured what it is like to be a child and how important the little things are; and how vital friends are in your day to day life.

An American turns up in a small, Irish town to build a hotel in the local ruins all the local kids play in and use as their gang hut. The American's children capture the attention of the twins and you grow with them as the hotel breaks ground and chugs towards completion.

Capturing Childhood

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A brilliant listen from start to finish.. Maeve Binchy at her usual best.. Sorry to finish it..

Brilliant

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I enjoyed Firefly Summer as much as Circle of Friends and recognised the author's approach: many interwoven relationships; happy, complex, poignant and tragic moments; beautiful confident people who don't get everything they want; more ordinary, intelligent, likeable characters; and characters who hadn't managed to create a full life (very true for rural Ireland at the time). The narrator had an amazing range of female and male irish voices and conveyed so many personalities. Some turns of phrase and their delivery were really delightful. Very few books I've read include a disabled main character and the treatment of disability was a mixture of interesting and with some insights but dealt very lightly with the period of time after an injury. Overall left me feeling I will move on to another Maeve Binchy book very soon.

Enjoyable and fantastic range by the narrator

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