A BBC Radio collection of dramatisations and readings of Maeve Binchy’s sparkling stories

Irish writer Maeve Binchy was one the best-loved and most successful authors of her time. Her bestselling books sold over 40 million copies worldwide, and were translated into 37 languages. This comprehensive anthology of her finest fiction, as heard on BBC Radio, demonstrates all the warmth, wit and compassion that made her so popular.

It opens with Firefly Summer, her moving, humorous novel about a sleepy Irish town facing monumental change. No Nightingales, No Snakes comprises five short plays: ‘The Night the People Came Over for Something That Was No Trouble’, ‘The Stepson’, ‘Decisions at Sea’, ‘The Answer Machine’ and ‘By the Time We Get to Clifden’.

Following these are five short stories exclusively created for BBC Radio – ‘The Garden Party’, ‘Home Coming’, ‘Telling Stories’ ‘Needy’, and ‘The Interview’.

First published in the short story collections Central Line and Victoria Line, London Transports features four full-cast dramas set on London’s Tube: ‘Brixton’, ‘Green Park’, ‘Holland Park’ and ‘Lancaster Gate’. Full of wry humour, irony and empathy.

Concluding this compilation is a dramatisation of ‘‘Taxi Men Are Invisible’, and readings of eight more short stories. Specially commissioned for Radio 4, ‘The Special Sale’, ‘The Sensible Celebration’, ‘Love in the Afternoon’, ‘’The White Trolley’ and its counterpart story ‘The Feast of Stephen’ . ‘Euston’, a seasonal tale taken from Victoria Line followed by ‘Dolly’s Mother’ and ‘Christmas Present’ – both originally written for radio.

Text copyright © Maeve Binchy 1978 (Central Line), 1980 (Victoria Line), 1987 (Firefly Summer), 1989 (‘Dolly’s Mother’), 1990 (‘The Sensible Celebration’), 1992 (‘Telling Stories’, ‘The Interview’), 1995 (‘The Garden Party’, ‘Christmas Present’), 1997 (‘Needy’, ‘Euston’), 1998 (‘The White Trolley’, ‘The Feast of Stephen’), 1999 (‘Taxi Men are Invisible’), 2000 (‘The Special Sale’), 2001 (‘Home Coming’), 2007 (No Nightingales, No Snakes), 2008 (‘Love in the Afternoon’)

Cast and credits
Written by Maeve Binchy

Firefly Summer - Drama
No Nightingales, No Snakes - 5 Dramas
The Garden Party
The Homecoming
Telling Stories
Needy
The Interview
London Transports - 4 Dramas
Brixton
Green Park
Holland Park
Lancaster Gate
Taxi Men Are Invisible - Drama
The Sensible Celebration
Love in the Afternoon
Euston
Dolly’s Mother
The Special Sale
The White Trolley
The Feast of Stephen
Christmas Present