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Evening Class by Maeve Binchy
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Evening Class (original 1996; edition 1997)

by Maeve Binchy (Author)

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2,714405,276 (3.71)46
Fiction. Literature. Romance. HTML:It was the quiet ones you had to watch. That's where the real passion was lurking.

They came together at Mountainview College, a down-at-the-heels secondary school on the seamy side of Dublin, to take a course in Italian. It was Latin teacher Aidan Dunne's last chance to revive a failing marriage and a dead-end career. But Aidan's dream was headed for disaster until the mysterious Signora appeared, transforming a shared passion for Italy into a life-altering adventure for them all . . . bank clerk Bill and his dizzy fiance Lizzie: a couple headed for trouble . . . Kathy, a hardworking innocent propelled into adulthood in a shocking moment of truth . . . Connie, the gorgeous rich lady with a scandal ready to explode . . . glowering Lou, who joined the class as a cover for crime. And Signora, whose passionate past remained a secret as she changed all their lives forever. . . .

From the New York Times bestselling author of This Year It Will Be Different, The Glass Lake, and Circle of Friends, comes a novel filled with Maeve Binchy's signature warmth, wit, and sheer storytelling geniusâ??a spellbinding tale of men and women whose quiet lives hide the most unexpected things. .
… (more)
Member:MHanover10
Title:Evening Class
Authors:Maeve Binchy (Author)
Info:Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd ) (1997), 528 pages
Collections:Your library, Currently reading, Wishlist, To read, Read but unowned, Favorites
Rating:****
Tags:None

Work Information

Evening Class by Maeve Binchy (1996)

  1. 00
    The Beach House by Helen McKenna (Michelle4263)
    Michelle4263: Both books feature several characters involved in the same story, but their stories are told separately at first and then they merge at the end.
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English (32)  Dutch (3)  German (3)  Spanish (1)  All languages (39)
Showing 1-5 of 32 (next | show all)
"Evening Class", by Maeve Binchy, is another amazing read by this wonderful author! The characters, plot, and settings are original and well thought out. Another of her novels that I was engrossed in from the first page to the last. I love when an author has the ability to constantly come up with completely new ideas from novel to novel. If you are looking for an older, enjoyable fiction that takes place between Ireland and Italy, I would recommend adding this to your tbr list! ( )
  AndreaHelena | Aug 3, 2023 |
What a lovely book! Barbara Caruso does a wonderful job narrating. I just loved all the characters. It was great to get to know them and watch them grow and blossom. I would highly recommend this as a character driven gentle read. ( )
  njcur | Jan 23, 2021 |
So I apologize in advance for not reviewing these books in the order of publication. I tend to go back again and again to my tried and true Binchy novels. I decided this year I will aim to at least post reviews for all of the books that I have read. Over the Thanksgiving holiday I enjoyed re-reading this book, Heart & Soul, and This Year it Will Be Different. There is something so homey with these books. At this time I have been reading about the same characters for more than a dozen years. I likened her a bit to Rosamunde Pilcher who returns to the same characters or references them in her other books. It's like a very nice present you get each book. That said, I thought that some of the character stories in this one were pretty adult. You have Binchy tackling marital rape (still rape), adultery, and theft. There are still some good heartwarming stories here and there though.

Evening Class starts out with Aiden Dunne realizing that his dream of becoming principal of Mountainview College is never going to happen. A new teacher, Tony O'Brien is who the administrators want as principal. Aiden doesn't know what he is going to do now and how he will be able to spin this to his family. Tony pushes him (for his own reasons) to do a potential evening class that Aiden recommends in order to bring in people to the school.

Once again Binchy does a good job of setting up the stories of the people who will end up attending this evening class. We know that at least 30 people sign up, but we ultimately only follow Aiden, Signora (real name is Nora), Bill, Kathy, Lou, Connie, Laddy, and Fiona.

Per usual I think my favorite sections to read about were Aiden, Signora, and Connie.

I felt for Aiden since he is realizing that his wife (Nell) and two daughters (Grania and Brigid) have grown apart through the years. His wife is barely home, his two daughters don't really talk to him, and he is starting to realize that he is middle-aged with the possibility of this being his life until the day he passes. Him organizing and taking the evening class which will ultimately teach its participants Italian allows him to think about his life in a totally different way. His burgeoning friendship with the teacher, Signora, always allows Aiden to dream about something new. I did get frustrated with Aiden a bit, because I felt like he was just way too clueless about a lot of things going on. He was a bit passive, except a few times in the story. I was ultimately happy with how Binchy concludes his story in this book.

Signora was interesting. Usually I would despise this type of character. At the age of 20 something, Signora met an Italian boy named Mario and proceeded to defy her family and follow him to Sicily. While there, Signora finds out that Mario is to be married. She still decides to stay and be Mario's other woman for more than 20 years. When Mario dies in an accident, she is asked to leave by his wife and children and Signora finally returns home. Ireland has moved on while she was away so Signora has trouble finding a place to live and work. When she ends up teaching Italian at Mountainview College it seems her prayers are answered. I felt a bit for Signora's family. They don't sound great, but I can see why her family was a bit put out with her. She ended up reconnecting with her best friend from years ago, Brenda, who runs the ever popular Quentins, so that was good. I did read Quentins years ago, but will do a re-read to post a review.

Connie's story was something else though. A young girl who had it all until her father died leaving her family penniless. Being forced to give up her dream of being a lawyer, she goes to a secretarial school where she ends up avoiding men. She eventually meets someone that she thinks will be a perfect husband and father, Harry Kane. Connie thinks that her life will be perfect, but there a ton of wrenches thrown in the way. I liked how Connie pushed through them though I did wish that the character had went to therapy. There definitely seemed to be something going on with her. I did love how Binchy wrapped up one part of her story. I didn't really like the whole thing that went down with her when the group gets to Italy though.

The other characters are interesting, I just didn't like them as much as the others. I just felt like Bill was being a pushover, and a jerk at times (his realization of him having to be his younger sister's caregiver after his parents are gone just made me dislike him a bit). Kathy's story was okay, just not that engaging. I though Lou was a jerk honestly when we find out what he was getting up to. And Laddy's story was just sad to me. Honestly it should have been called Rose's story (Laddy's sister) since the story focused on her and what she had to deal with as a married woman.

The writing was really good. Binchy has a way with words that just draws you in. I always love reading her works in the fall/winter because that always seems to be the time of year to me that is best to read her works. The flow was a bit up and down though between character chapters. That and me not being as engaged with the different characters stories is why I gave this one 4 stars.

The setting is Ireland in the late 90s I imagine. Evening Class was first published in 1996, but I got this book back in April 2009. Some parts of the book felt a bit dated to me then with discussions of one of Aiden's daughters working in a travel agency. I honestly don't know if there are travel agencies anymore.

The ending leaves things with a newfound hope and joy for two of the characters. And some of them are definitely in a new stage of their lives like Fiona and Lou. ( )
  ObsidianBlue | Jul 1, 2020 |
I first read this after visiting Ireland. It was so much fun to explore the interconnected lives of Dubliners. Years later I wondered if I would enjoy it as much. I needed a comfort read and this was perfect. Senora returns to Ireland after spending decades in Italy pinning after her married lover. Her path crosses with Aidan, a local teacher, and they start an evening class teaching locals how to speak Italian. The class includes Lou, a man on the edge of a crime ring, Laddie, a simple man who works in his nephew's hotel, Connie, a rich woman with an unhappy marriage, and so many others. We also meet Fiona, a mousy barista in a hospital, Aidan's daughters, and Tony, the local principal.

BOTTOM LINE: One of my favorite Binchy novels. A great place to start if you've never tried her work. ( )
  bookworm12 | Dec 17, 2017 |
The characters from this book pop up in later Binchy works but I still like this novel better than most of her later ones. The Evening Class referred to is for Italian. All the students, and the teacher, have unique reasons for joining the class but they are all searching for something. You can't help but get caught up in their lives. This was given to me by my husband for Christmas of 1996 so it stays in my permanent collection. ( )
  gypsysmom | Aug 10, 2017 |
Showing 1-5 of 32 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (10 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Maeve Binchyprimary authorall editionscalculated
Binchy, KateReadersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bulak, LaleTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Cesa Bianchi, Maria LuisaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Prummer-Lehmair, ChristaTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Schermer-Rauwolf, GerlindeTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Weiß, Robert A.Translatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
WVK-groepTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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Für meinen lieben, großzügigen Gordon,

grazie per tutto, und mit all meiner Liebe
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Vroeger, in de jaren zeventig, vonden ze het nog leuk om een vragenlijst in te vullen.
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Fiction. Literature. Romance. HTML:It was the quiet ones you had to watch. That's where the real passion was lurking.

They came together at Mountainview College, a down-at-the-heels secondary school on the seamy side of Dublin, to take a course in Italian. It was Latin teacher Aidan Dunne's last chance to revive a failing marriage and a dead-end career. But Aidan's dream was headed for disaster until the mysterious Signora appeared, transforming a shared passion for Italy into a life-altering adventure for them all . . . bank clerk Bill and his dizzy fiance Lizzie: a couple headed for trouble . . . Kathy, a hardworking innocent propelled into adulthood in a shocking moment of truth . . . Connie, the gorgeous rich lady with a scandal ready to explode . . . glowering Lou, who joined the class as a cover for crime. And Signora, whose passionate past remained a secret as she changed all their lives forever. . . .

From the New York Times bestselling author of This Year It Will Be Different, The Glass Lake, and Circle of Friends, comes a novel filled with Maeve Binchy's signature warmth, wit, and sheer storytelling geniusâ??a spellbinding tale of men and women whose quiet lives hide the most unexpected things. .

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