Heart and Soul

Dr. Clara Casey was passed over for the position of head cardiologist at the hospital. Instead, she ends up appointed the director of the new heart clinic and she's less than thrilled about the prospect. She promises herself it will only be for a year, she'll get through it, and move on.

The new job is just the beginning of her troubles. She has two selfish daughters who are wrapped up in their own lives. Her estranged husband, who left her to live with a much younger woman, is finally asking for the divorce she won't grant, and Frank Ennis, the hospital board member overseeing the clinic, is an incredible thorn in her side.

At the clinic, she begins assembling a diverse and wonderful staff. Clara is a force and you begin to see the show more clinic find its home in the community and become a touchstone for so many of the characters in this book.

Maeve Binchy is a comfort read for me. She creates such immensely likable characters that I want to pick up and go to Dublin to meet these people. In this book, as with most Binchy novels, the story is told from several perspectives and you know what's going on in the lives of all the characters. Some of their stories are more interesting than others but it's the way they are all tied together that makes it work. Binchy does a good job of folding you into the story and you're hooked before you know it. The ending of this one felt a bit abrupt and the characters all work out their problems fairly quickly but that may also have been me not wanting to see this story come to an end at all.

This book does include characters from previous novels but you don't need to have read them all to understand what's going on here. It stands on its own but if you've read the other books, it's nice to see the characters you've met before are all doing fine. show less

I’m almost out of Maeve Binchy books to read and that makes me incredibly sad. The Irish author passed away last year after writing 16 novels and a handful of short story collections. After finishing Heart and Soul I now only have one of her books left unread. I’m sure I’ll return to her earlier books again, but I hate that I only have one completely new story left to discover.

Heart and Soul is set in Dublin and tells the story of Clara, who is starting a new heart clinic in the bustling city. Despite a frustrating ex, two bratty daughters and a penny-pinching boss, Clara manages to get the clinic up and running with an excellent staff. She handpicks everyone from the nurses and dietician to the security guard.

In Binchy’s show more trademark style we wander in and out of various characters lives, watching them fall in love, tackle new challenges and learn more about themselves along the way. This book includes many familiar faces. We reconnect with characters from her other novels, (especially Scarlet Feather, Quentins, Nights of Rain and Stars and Evening Class) and see how they are doing now. You don’t have to read those books to appreciate this one, but it’s a nice surprise to meet those characters again.

I particularly enjoyed Anya’s story. She’s a sweet Polish girl just hoping to find some work in Ireland. Her sincere joy at life despite her ups and down was lovely. A few areas in the story faltered, like a section with a priest and a woman who is avidly pursuing him, but that wasn’t enough to detract for the overall book.

BOTTOM LINE: If you love Binchy’s work then definitely pick this one up. She is a comfort read for me and I almost always enjoy her. show less

Heart and Soul is another slice of Irish life by Maeve Binchy, in this case detailing the lives of a group of people who come together to create a heart clinic attached to a local hospital, their patients and other individuals related to the staff. Clara Casey is the cardiologist who takes on the thankless task of setting up the clinic, which largely involves battling a hospital bureaucrat, Frank Ennis, to obtain the funds she needs to run the place; in addition, she is coping with her two young adult daughters and an ex-husband who continues to intrude into her life, even though they've been separated for years. She quickly recruits a young resident (Declan Carroll), two nurses (Fiona and Barbara), an office manager (Hilary), a show more physiotherapist (Johnny) and nutritionist (Lavender) and, finally, a young Polish girl, Ania, to be a sort of maid-of-all-work for the clinic. Very soon, the lives of all of these people become entangled with and enriched by each other and by their patients; romances bloom and fade, parents and children fight and reconcile (or not), and life continues on in all its messy glory.... I've come late to the joys of Maeve Binchy's writing, having only discovered her in 2012, but this is definitely a case of better late than never. Her stories are full of interesting characters leading ordinary lives; she doesn't sugar-coat the more depressing parts of life, but she doesn't dwell on the negative either, and instead she just shows how ordinary, complicated people are interconnected in so many ways. Recommended! show less

Binchy is nothing if not a fun read. I love the way she brings characters to live and interweaves their stories into a glimpse of an entire community of individuals without making us feel anyone has gotten short shrift. Another Binchy hallmark is finding a familiar character and seeing the next chapter of their tale unexpectedly.

No one would claim that Binchy writes cutting social commentary, but she does open up communities to let us see inside. She always makes me wish I could be there and know her people and share their lives. It is escapism of the finest variety.

Plot synopsis? I'm afraid that I find it quite impossible to sum up any of Maeve Binchy's novels in a few short sentences. What is the book about? The more appropriate question would be what the book is not about. Binchy's ability to artfully weave together many separate and diverse stories with one common thread is really astounding. In Heart and Soul the connector and unifier is a heart clinic in Dublin set up to help people with heart disease manage their disease, and to learn how to live as healthily and long as possible. All of the serpentine stories in the book revolve around this clinic.

One of the things I love about Maeve Binchy's novels is how she brings people from her previous novels back into existence as minor characters. show more I always want to know what happens to characters I come to know and love once the book is over. And she has the ability to show them through a different perspective where they somehow appear the same, and yet other aspects of their character are explored. The only time I find this a bit distracting is when I have not read the book which first introduced the characters, and people are talked about who do not really appear in this story, and have no real meaning to me.

Another aspect of Binchy's writing which I find quite remarkable is her ability to show just what should be shown. In a few short commonplace words, even mundane task, she is able to perfectly paint a picture of character and setting. Her grasp and understanding of human nature is incredible. This through what she shows of people, and how well she knows her readers. Life. That is what her novels are. Life with all of it's heartache, humor and joy. And always she leaves you with a feeling of hope and joy.

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Review for the abridged audiobook.

This audiobook was a bit like listening to several episodes of Emmerdale Farm, or some similar long-running soap. It kept my interest but never grabbed me. It may be that the abridgement took some of the life out of the book, but it felt like a series of events, rather than a novel.

The central character is Clara Casey, a heart specialist, who takes on the position of setting up a new heart clinic in St. Brigid's Hospital, Dublin. She is an immediately likeable person who holds everyone else together.
We also meet Anya, a Polish girl with a sad past, who is hoping to make some money to send back to her mother. She chances upon Clara in a car park where she is washing windscreens, and becomes employed at show more the clinic as general assisstant.
Declan Carroll joins the clinic for experience as a young doctor, only to fall in love and meet his wife-to-be.
Binchy also brought back some of the characters from Nights of Rain and Stars - Fiona, the Irish nurse and Vronni and Andreas from Greece, who both make a cameo appearance. I do like it when authors incorporate characters from past novels but it didn't matter at all if you hadn't read the book.

Most of the narrative revolves around the staff and patients at the clinic, which becomes rather a cast of thousands and a bit difficult to keep up with in an audiobook where it is much harder to refer back. In addition, the fact that it is abridged means that each of the characters is covered in much less detail.
I enjoyed it as company when driving but didn't find it earth shattering. I think I would have preferred an unabridged version but I won't be going back to the book to fill in the gaps.

I should add that I did enjoy the narration by Maeve's cousin, Kate Binchy, who has a soft irish accent that was a pleasure to listen to. show less

Binchy seems to be a hit or miss for me, and this one is definitely a miss, Trite, syrupy, predictable, it doesn't have much to redeem itself. Even though it seems to be some kind of St Jarlath Crescent series, Binchy is determined to introduce all of Dublin to the reader: it's confusing and unnecessary, creating stereotyped, uni-dimensional characters. Even as light reading it's boring and bland. Pass.