Maeve Binchy was born on 28 May 1940 in Dalkey, County Dublin, Ireland, the eldest child of four. Her parents were very positive and provided her with a happy childhood. Despite the fact she describes herself as an overweight child it was her parents attitude that gave her the confidence to accept herself for who she is today. She studied at University College Dublin and was a teacher for a while. She also loved travelling and this was how she found her niche as a writer. She liked going to all different kinds of places such as a Kibbutz in Israel and worked in a camp in the United States. It was whilst she was away that she sent letters home to her parents. They were so impressed with these chatty letters from all over the world that they decided to send them to a newspaper. They were published. She left teaching and became a journalist. She still writes columns today. Maeve married Gordon Snell who is also a published writer. When they were struggling financially it was then that Light a Penny Candle was published. She became an overnight success. Her books deal with relationship problems. Many of them are set in the past in Ireland such as "Echoes" and often deal with people who are young, fall in love, have families then have relationship or family problems that readers can identify with. The main characters are people you can empathise with. Some of her later novels have been brought forward to the present day to become more modern. Her cousin Dan Binchy is also a published writer. She passed away on 30 July 2012, at the age of 72.