Helpful Score: 5
Scarlet Feather is Maeve Binchey at her best. Following the lives of several residents in modern day Dublin and their various involvement with the Scarlet Feather catering business. Friends from school days, Tom and Cathy have invested their all in the catering business~~but friends, family, lovers, and the odd abandoned child or two, have a way of getting involved. This is Maeve Binchey at her best, weaving the everyday lives of various people of all classes and interest, into a seamless story. The language and the dialog ring true and carry the story along. The characters are allowed to be themselves,their good and bad characteristics and all their human frailties included. The story is character driven, and moves along at a good clip. Even though it is over 500 pages, it is a fast read, one you don't want to put down.
One of my favorite authors, and one of her best books. Charming, heart-wrenching, and beautifully written. I love Irish fiction and Binchy is the BEST!
Helpful Score: 3
I could not put this book down. I loved Simon and Maud the best.
Helpful Score: 3
Maeve is always good...
Helpful Score: 3
One of my favorite Binchy novels. The characters are lovable and believable.
Helpful Score: 2
Scarlet Feather is another wonderful Binchy classic that I simply couldn't put down after I started reading it. It is about how Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather, friends and business partners, are trying to make their dreams come true: starting and running the most successful catering business in Dublin. Besides professional issues they also have to face lots of personal problems that get sorted out predictably, but satisfactorily, to everyone's liking. And there are quite a few problems to sort out: there is Cathy's husband, Neil, a busy civil rights lawyer, and her awful mother-in-law. There is Tom's glamorous girlfriend, Marcella, who is willing and determined to sacrifice everything for a model career, his parents who don't warm to the idea of their sons being a caterer instead of following his father in the business. Lots of characters cross each other's path and influence each other's lives making the book exciting and interesting right up to the last page that seems to come regrettably quick.
Helpful Score: 2
I love Maeve Binchy and her characters. This story is very warm and wonderful. The novel is well written and drew me in from the first page. I was disappointed when it ended and wanted a sequel with more stories from these characters.
Helpful Score: 1
I loved this book, more than many other of Maeve Binchy's. The protagonists, Cathy and Tom, begin a catering service together. They run into many snags, in both their personal and business lives, which run together. I love the Irish expressions and learning about various strata of Irish society. This is not great fiction, but makes a nice read on a winter evening. And at 598 pages, once you get accustomed to the characters, you don't have to leave them quickly! Things work out a little too neatly in the end with their relationships, but the things which cause problems with their spouses seem real, and make one identify with their situations.
Helpful Score: 1
Binchy is a master spinner of tales, the kind of storyteller who captures the rich tapestry of relationships at work in even the most ordinary of lives. Tom and Cathy come surrounded by a cast of characters as skillfully drawn as themselves: Neil, Cathy's activist-lawyer-husband, who's so busy worrying about the world's problems that he sometimes forgets to worry about his own; beautiful Marcella, Tom's girlfriend, who wants to be a top model more than anything else; and most endearingly of all, Maud and Simon, Neil's neglected 8-year-old cousins, who prove equally talented at wreaking havoc and asking awkward questions. Stir in a full complement of clients, family, friends, and enemies, and you have the makings of a bestseller that's very busy and very Binchy. Tom and Cathy's work, after all, is not so different from that of the novelist herself. Like writers, they stage-manage some of the most important events in people's lives, from weddings and funerals to romances and reunions. Before the year is out, Tom, Cathy, Neil, and Marcella will find themselves changed forever--and Binchy fans will have fallen in love with yet another of her fully realized worlds.
Helpful Score: 1
Really good book.
They met in cooking school and became fast friends with a common dream. Now Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather hope to take Dublin by storm with their newly formed catering company, aptly dubbed "Scarlet Feather." Between friends and families, ups and downs, heartaches and joys, Cathy and Tom embark on the most maddening, and exhilarating year of their lives.
Another good one.
I really enjoyed this book. It's a great romance novel.
One of her best novels. A good read.
Cathy and Tom met in cooking school and became friends. They've created a catering company, entitled "Scarlet Feather." Not everyone is happy about it, though. Regardless of all of the troubles, they are embarking on their dream! Read on to see what happens!!
Some of Maeve Binch I enjoy, but I just couldn't get into this one.
Typical Maeve Binchey story -characters you care about, no sex or violence.
As always in a book by Maeve Binchy, she colors it richly with descriptive people and places. I fade into the wallpaper and become a fly watching all the goings on and I care about her characters. This is a rich and wonderful book.
Very enjoyable! A good story and interesting characters, I couldn't put it down.
This book does not have the intensity of "Tara Road" , but is just as interesting and spell binding. I loved it from the first page to the last. It is very descriptive and is a feel good book. It has a lovely love story in it.
A sweet tale, even if it's a bit predictable. Not sure I'll read more by this author, especially if the plots seem to follow a similar formula. I enjoyed the characters of Scarlet's parents and the children - quite entertaining! This book did make me appreciate my own marriage more, though, so that's a blessing in disguise =>
One of my favorites from Maeve Binchy
I thoroughly enjoyed this book...the ongoing saga of three families kept the reader turning pages. I immediately ordered another book written by the author because of her ability to hook you into her world.
I really enjoyed this read. It started out a little slow for me but when I got past that it was great.
Typical Binchy novel, this is one of her better stories.
REALLY LIKE THIS MAEVE BINCHY BOOK. HER CHARACTERS ARE SO LIKABLE, AND THEIR LIVES SO INTERESTING AND FUN TO READ ABOUT. EASY TO GET LOST IN.
One of a kind. Read them all I have them!
The characters were wonderful, and the pace was great!
I loved this book and hated when it ended. Loved the characters and subplots. Great Read. Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather have decided to create the best catering company in Dublin. Neither Cathy's marriage, nor Tom's relationship with his girlfriend, are everything they appear to be.
Heart-warming tales about ordinary characters who, somehow, manage to get things right in the end.-Toronto Star
Heart-warming tales about ordinary characters who, somehow, manage to get things right in the end.-Toronto Star
Thoroughly enjoyed this book. She writes wonderful characters.
Between friends and families, ups and downs, heartaches and joys, Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather are about to embark on the most maddening- and exhilarating-year of their lives.
Great book to curl up with... like you are part of these people's lives and you can't put it down. I was sad when it ended... Thoroughly enjoyed it!
Love this book, Binchy is the best
Loved this!!! Maeve Binchy is such a good writer, she tells the story so well.
"Binchy is a master spinner of tales, the kind of storyteller who captures the rich tapestry of relationships at work in even the most ordinary of lives. Tom and Cathy come surrounded by a cast of characters as skillfully drawn as themselves..." amazon review
good read
Maeve Binchy is always a joy to read and this book is no exception.
They meet in cooking school and become friends .Cathy and Tom hope to take Dublin by storm with their catering company.Cathy's mother-in-law disapproves of both Cathy and her new hobby, her husband pays no mind to anything- except his work as a civil rights lawyer.Between friends, family, ups, downs, heartaches, and joys,Cathy and Tom are about to embark on the most maddening and exhilarating year of their lives.
Don't forget to read The Quentins which has many of the same characters.
Not my favorite Maeve Binchy book.
Cathy and Tom have started a Primo catering business in Dublin, and things are not always as smooth as one would like. As they find themselves up against theft, and one disaster after another it looks like they might have to close by the end of the year. Throw in the antics of young Maude and Simon who have somehow been thrust upon Cathy's household and you have the perfect lighthearted balance that makes this author one of my favorites.
Friends from cooking school open a catering business together. Not everyone wants it to succeed. An up and down struggle that will have you wondering with every turn of the page!
Wonderful! Maeve Binchy at her finest...couldn't put it down!
Great characters and compelling stories----as to be expected from Maeve Binchy
Enjoyed this thoroughly. I always like Maeve Binchy's books.
Once again, Maeve Binchy has written a lovingly gossip-y story about life in Ireland. Her characters are charming, her plot twists interesting. This is definitely a great chick-book for a quiet evening by the fire. Enjoy it!
Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather hope to take Dublin by storm with their newly formed catering company, aptly dubbed "Scarlet Feather."
ABOUT A MAN AND WOMAN WHO START A CATERING BUSINESS. SHE IS MARRIED AND HE HAS A GIRLFRIEND AND A FAMILY WHO ESPECTS HIM TO+9 6JOIN THE FAMILY PRACTICE. HOWEVER THEY ARE ABOUT TO EMBARK IN THE MOST EXHILARATING YEAR OF THEI LIVES...
"Reading one of Maeve Binchey's books is like coming home." The Washington Post. I love Binchey's books.
One of Maeve Binchy's best. She draws you in to the story line with her characters and makes you long for more.
Binchy is so readable; wonderful characters; this is one of her best.
One of her best!
Mave Binchy writes the greates books. You will love
anything she writes.
anything she writes.
From the cover - They met in cooking school and became fast friends. Now Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather hope to take Dublin by storm with their newly formed catering company, aptly dubbed "Scarlet Feather." Not everyone, however, shares their optomism. Cathy' mother-in-law disapproves of both Cathy and her new "hobby," while Cathy's husband, Neil, pays no mind to anything - except his work as a civil rights lawyer. And then there's Tom's family, who expects him to follow in his father's foorsteps, and an ambitious girlfriend who's struggling with career dreams of her own. Between friends and families, ups and downs, heartaches and joys, Cathy Scarlett and Tom Feather are about to embark on the most maddening - and exhilarating - year of their lives. . .
From me - I found that this book started very slowly. For the first 150 pages I was thinking "Nothing is happening!". If you can hang in for the first segment though, you'll be rewarded with a quaint picture of the characters, their friends, and their families and you'll probably get a nice warm fuzzy feeling as they all come to understand and accept what is important in life for each of them.
From me - I found that this book started very slowly. For the first 150 pages I was thinking "Nothing is happening!". If you can hang in for the first segment though, you'll be rewarded with a quaint picture of the characters, their friends, and their families and you'll probably get a nice warm fuzzy feeling as they all come to understand and accept what is important in life for each of them.
they met in cooking school and became fast friends with a common dream. Now Cathe Scarlet and Tom Feather hope to take Dublin by storm with their newly formed catering company, apty dubbed, Scarlet Feather. Not everyone, theough, shares their optimism. Cathys mother-in-lawdissaproves of Cathy and her new "hobby" while Cathys husband Neil, pays no mind to anything_except his work as a civil rights lawyer.And then there's Toms family, who expect him to follow in his fathers footsteps, and an ambitious girlfriend whos struggling with career dreams of her own. Between friends and families, ups and downs, heartaches and joys, Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather are about to embark on the most maddening and exhilerating year of their lives.
From Publishers Weekly
Bestselling author Binchy (Tara Road, etc.) again explores the depths of family relationships in an 11th warm, involving drama. Set in contemporary Ireland over a period of one year, the smartly paced tale focuses on Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather, cooking school chums who achieve their dream of opening a posh catering business, Scarlet Feather, in Dublin. Professionally, they're off to a good start; personally, their lives are falling apart. Cathy, whose out-of-work father plays the races while her mother toils as a housemaid, faces the consequences of having married Neil Mitchell, prized son of an upper-class family who employed Cathy's mother for years. Neil, a lawyer who champions worthy causes, is unconcerned about the tension between his wife and his snooty mother, and Cathy and Neil find themselves leading busy, separate lives. Tom has a live-in girlfriend whom he would love to marry, but Marcella, a manicurist in a classy store, yearns to succeed as a model before making any commitments. A charming cast of secondary characters includes Neil's cousins, Simon and Maud, two abandoned, nine-year-old twins who, in a surprising turn of events, come to live with Cathy's parents. The children's deadpan, exceedingly serious outlook on life is both heartbreaking and hilarious. One of Binchy's strengths is her subtle depiction of gradual changes in Irish society. By making her principal characters entrepreneurs, she reflects the ways Ireland's growing economic prosperity has altered social mores. Whether her readers are aware of such details, they help this wonderfully engaging book ring true. (Mar. 5).Forecast: Binchy's gift for creating a wide range of characters whose foibles and challenges make them lovable and real, coupled with her theme that genuine love can transform lives, add up to another crowd-pleaser. With major ad/promo, plus an author tour, this one is a lock for the charts.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Bestselling author Binchy (Tara Road, etc.) again explores the depths of family relationships in an 11th warm, involving drama. Set in contemporary Ireland over a period of one year, the smartly paced tale focuses on Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather, cooking school chums who achieve their dream of opening a posh catering business, Scarlet Feather, in Dublin. Professionally, they're off to a good start; personally, their lives are falling apart. Cathy, whose out-of-work father plays the races while her mother toils as a housemaid, faces the consequences of having married Neil Mitchell, prized son of an upper-class family who employed Cathy's mother for years. Neil, a lawyer who champions worthy causes, is unconcerned about the tension between his wife and his snooty mother, and Cathy and Neil find themselves leading busy, separate lives. Tom has a live-in girlfriend whom he would love to marry, but Marcella, a manicurist in a classy store, yearns to succeed as a model before making any commitments. A charming cast of secondary characters includes Neil's cousins, Simon and Maud, two abandoned, nine-year-old twins who, in a surprising turn of events, come to live with Cathy's parents. The children's deadpan, exceedingly serious outlook on life is both heartbreaking and hilarious. One of Binchy's strengths is her subtle depiction of gradual changes in Irish society. By making her principal characters entrepreneurs, she reflects the ways Ireland's growing economic prosperity has altered social mores. Whether her readers are aware of such details, they help this wonderfully engaging book ring true. (Mar. 5).Forecast: Binchy's gift for creating a wide range of characters whose foibles and challenges make them lovable and real, coupled with her theme that genuine love can transform lives, add up to another crowd-pleaser. With major ad/promo, plus an author tour, this one is a lock for the charts.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
Great book
Dublin Ireland: Cathy Scarlet & Tom Feather start a catering business that transforms their lives. Maeve Binchy has brought us another great story filled with warmth, wit and drama. Her characters are very believable and seem like friends by the end of the book. Some make you laugh, others make you cry and you will miss them after the last chapter. Look forward to my next Binchy book. Highly recommend this one!
Amazon.com
"Whatever made us think that a catering business had anything to do with producing food?" asks the exasperated heroine of Maeve Binchy's Scarlet Feather. Cathy Scarlet and her partner Tom Feather had wanted to open their own catering firm ever since they attended college together. When the perfect location finally becomes available at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, they jump straight into renovations, ignoring the owner's mysterious eagerness to sell. But as they soon learn, chasing a dream demands far more than just cream puffs and canapés. In the months that follow, Tom and Cathy weather the ups and downs of founding a small business, soothe many a client's fragile ego, plan and pull off a fairy-tale wedding, minister to two of the most appealingly waifish children this side of Dickens, and generally work themselves to the bone--all the while producing some of the most exquisite food Dublin has ever seen.
Binchy is a master spinner of tales, the kind of storyteller who captures the rich tapestry of relationships at work in even the most ordinary of lives. Tom and Cathy come surrounded by a cast of characters as skillfully drawn as themselves: Neil, Cathy's activist-lawyer-husband, who's so busy worrying about the world's problems that he sometimes forgets to worry about his own; beautiful Marcella, Tom's girlfriend, who wants to be a top model more than anything else; and most endearingly of all, Maud and Simon, Neil's neglected 8-year-old cousins, who prove equally talented at wreaking havoc and asking awkward questions. Stir in a full complement of clients, family, friends, and enemies, and you have the makings of a bestseller that's very busy and very Binchy. Tom and Cathy's work, after all, is not so different from that of the novelist herself. Like writers, they stage-manage some of the most important events in people's lives, from weddings and funerals to romances and reunions. Before the year is out, Tom, Cathy, Neil, and Marcella will find themselves changed forever--and Binchy fans will have fallen in love with yet another of her fully realized worlds.
From Publishers Weekly
Bestselling author Binchy (Tara Road, etc.) again explores the depths of family relationships in an 11th warm, involving drama. Set in contemporary Ireland over a period of one year, the smartly paced tale focuses on Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather, cooking school chums who achieve their dream of opening a posh catering business, Scarlet Feather, in Dublin. Professionally, they're off to a good start; personally, their lives are falling apart. Cathy, whose out-of-work father plays the races while her mother toils as a housemaid, faces the consequences of having married Neil Mitchell, prized son of an upper-class family who employed Cathy's mother for years. Neil, a lawyer who champions worthy causes, is unconcerned about the tension between his wife and his snooty mother, and Cathy and Neil find themselves leading busy, separate lives. Tom has a live-in girlfriend whom he would love to marry, but Marcella, a manicurist in a classy store, yearns to succeed as a model before making any commitments. A charming cast of secondary characters includes Neil's cousins, Simon and Maud, two abandoned, nine-year-old twins who, in a surprising turn of events, come to live with Cathy's parents. The children's deadpan, exceedingly serious outlook on life is both heartbreaking and hilarious. One of Binchy's strengths is her subtle depiction of gradual changes in Irish society. By making her principal characters entrepreneurs, she reflects the ways Ireland's growing economic prosperity has altered social mores. Whether her readers are aware of such details, they help this wonderfully engaging book ring true. (Mar. 5).Forecast: Binchy's gift for creating a wide range of characters whose foibles and challenges make them lovable and real, coupled with her theme that genuine love can transform lives, add up to another crowd-pleaser. With major ad/promo, plus an author tour, this one is a lock for the charts.
"Whatever made us think that a catering business had anything to do with producing food?" asks the exasperated heroine of Maeve Binchy's Scarlet Feather. Cathy Scarlet and her partner Tom Feather had wanted to open their own catering firm ever since they attended college together. When the perfect location finally becomes available at the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, they jump straight into renovations, ignoring the owner's mysterious eagerness to sell. But as they soon learn, chasing a dream demands far more than just cream puffs and canapés. In the months that follow, Tom and Cathy weather the ups and downs of founding a small business, soothe many a client's fragile ego, plan and pull off a fairy-tale wedding, minister to two of the most appealingly waifish children this side of Dickens, and generally work themselves to the bone--all the while producing some of the most exquisite food Dublin has ever seen.
Binchy is a master spinner of tales, the kind of storyteller who captures the rich tapestry of relationships at work in even the most ordinary of lives. Tom and Cathy come surrounded by a cast of characters as skillfully drawn as themselves: Neil, Cathy's activist-lawyer-husband, who's so busy worrying about the world's problems that he sometimes forgets to worry about his own; beautiful Marcella, Tom's girlfriend, who wants to be a top model more than anything else; and most endearingly of all, Maud and Simon, Neil's neglected 8-year-old cousins, who prove equally talented at wreaking havoc and asking awkward questions. Stir in a full complement of clients, family, friends, and enemies, and you have the makings of a bestseller that's very busy and very Binchy. Tom and Cathy's work, after all, is not so different from that of the novelist herself. Like writers, they stage-manage some of the most important events in people's lives, from weddings and funerals to romances and reunions. Before the year is out, Tom, Cathy, Neil, and Marcella will find themselves changed forever--and Binchy fans will have fallen in love with yet another of her fully realized worlds.
From Publishers Weekly
Bestselling author Binchy (Tara Road, etc.) again explores the depths of family relationships in an 11th warm, involving drama. Set in contemporary Ireland over a period of one year, the smartly paced tale focuses on Cathy Scarlet and Tom Feather, cooking school chums who achieve their dream of opening a posh catering business, Scarlet Feather, in Dublin. Professionally, they're off to a good start; personally, their lives are falling apart. Cathy, whose out-of-work father plays the races while her mother toils as a housemaid, faces the consequences of having married Neil Mitchell, prized son of an upper-class family who employed Cathy's mother for years. Neil, a lawyer who champions worthy causes, is unconcerned about the tension between his wife and his snooty mother, and Cathy and Neil find themselves leading busy, separate lives. Tom has a live-in girlfriend whom he would love to marry, but Marcella, a manicurist in a classy store, yearns to succeed as a model before making any commitments. A charming cast of secondary characters includes Neil's cousins, Simon and Maud, two abandoned, nine-year-old twins who, in a surprising turn of events, come to live with Cathy's parents. The children's deadpan, exceedingly serious outlook on life is both heartbreaking and hilarious. One of Binchy's strengths is her subtle depiction of gradual changes in Irish society. By making her principal characters entrepreneurs, she reflects the ways Ireland's growing economic prosperity has altered social mores. Whether her readers are aware of such details, they help this wonderfully engaging book ring true. (Mar. 5).Forecast: Binchy's gift for creating a wide range of characters whose foibles and challenges make them lovable and real, coupled with her theme that genuine love can transform lives, add up to another crowd-pleaser. With major ad/promo, plus an author tour, this one is a lock for the charts.
good macomber fare.
