Maeve Binchy passed away in 2012 and all I can say is what an absolute delight it was to read this novel containing 43 short stories. If you are a fan of Maeve you will know most have been published before but as a special bonus, 5 unpublished stories are included.
You will be transported on a trip around the world with stories based in Australia, New York, Greece, and Ireland to name a few. They are all set around Christmas time and the expectations we all have for the festive season and human interactions.
Christmas means spending more time with family, showing gratitude and loving, sharing, and making people happy but it is not always the case and Maeve has encompassed this in her short stories in a very realistic way.
Each story is a take on a familiar festive romance trope; love is lost then found, second chance love, new love, friendships being forged, pregnancies, friends to lovers, grumpy people finding joy, exciting travel adventures. They aren’t particularly about Christmas or New Year’s, but the holidays provide the backdrop for the stories and somehow make the romance all that much sweeter.
I must admit I am not a huge fan of Christmas but I confess I am a Christmas romance addict. I watch Hallmark holiday movies and enjoy Christmas baking shows. I especially love when romance authors have their books turned into films.
Treasury is warm, heartbreaking, joyful, and generous but most of all comforting. We fall into the glittery red and green spangled world of Christmas with our characters and our hearts are warmed and we’re glad to be in their universe as they find happiness, even if just for a little while.
A book I highly recommend for the Christmas break or a great gift idea.
Thank you to Beauty & Lace and Allen & Unwin AU for the chance to read and review.
ISBN: 9781760879228 / Publisher: Allen & Unwin AU
A selection of our Beauty and Lace Club members are reading Treasury. You can read their reviews below, or add your own!
My love of books started at a very young age. My mum has always been a reader and encouraged me to read, buying me endless book from classic fairy tales advancing to the world of Enid Blyton, CS Lewis, Louisa May Alcott, Kathryn Kenny, Carolyn Keene, Francine Pascal. In my adult years the list of authors is endless and every room in my house is filled with books.
One of my favourite novels is Narnia which has always has a special place in my heart. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in 1978 and when I was given this book to read it let me escape to another world where I felt like I was in the book with all the characters, it wasfun and exciting to escape from reality and eased the ups and downs of the disease at such a young age.
In books nothing is impossible and there is endless potential and hundreds of places to explore or being taken to places that are only made up from the authors’ great minds, the past and future to navigate, characters lives you step into taking you on an emotional rollercoaster ride or being scared out of your wits. I can experience things that I can’t in real life because they’re not possible or real. It challenges my perspective and mindset expanding my worldview.
I find joy, comfort and peace with books, many people may not get it, but I know bookworms like me truly understand. Reading makes my heart happy.