SCARLET FEATHER by MAEVE BINCHY

Whatever made us think that a catering business had anything to do with producing food? asks the exasperated heroine of Maeve Binchys Scarlet Feather . Cathy Scarlet and her partner Tom Feather had wanted to open their own catering firm ever since they attended college together. When the perfect location finally becomes available at the stroke of midnight on New Years E Whatever made us think that a catering business had anything to do with producing food? asks the exasperated heroine of Maeve Binchys Scarlet Feather . Cathy Scarlet and her partner Tom Feather had wanted to open their own catering firm ever since they attended college together. When the perfect location finally becomes available at the stroke of midnight on New Years Eve, they jump straight into renovations, ignoring the owners mysterious eagerness to sell. But as they soon learn, chasing a dream demands far more than just cream puffs and canapés. In the months that follow, Tom and Cathy weather the ups and downs of founding a small business, soothe many a clients fragile ego, plan and pull off a fairy-tale wedding, minister to two of the most appealingly waifish children this side of Dickens, and generally work themselves to the bone--all the while producing some of the most exquisite food Dublin has ever seen. Binchy is a master spinner of tales, the kind of storyteller who captures the rich tapestry of relationships at work in even the most ordinary of lives. Tom and Cathy come surrounded by a cast of characters as skillfully drawn as themselves: Neil, Cathys activist-lawyer-husband, whos so busy worrying about the worlds problems that he sometimes forgets to worry about his own; beautiful Marcella, Toms girlfriend, who wants to be a top model more than anything else; and most endearingly of all, Maud and Simon, Neils neglected 8-year-old cousins, who prove equally talented at wreaking havoc and asking awkward questions. Stir in a full complement of clients, family, friends, and enemies, and you have the makings of a bestseller thats very busy and very Binchy. Tom and Cathys work, after all, is not so different from that of the novelist herself. Like writers, they stage-manage some of the most important events in peoples lives, from weddings and funerals to romances and reunions. Before the year is out, Tom, Cathy, Neil, and Marcella will find themselves changed forever--and Binchy fans will have fallen in love with yet another of her fully realized worlds. --Chloe Byrne