This Year It Will Be Different

And Other Stories

By: Maeve Binchy

Narrated by: Fionnula Flanagan

From the New York Times bestselling author of Circle of Friends and The Glass Lake comes This Year It Will Be Different, a stunning new work that brings us the magic and spirit of Christmas in fifteen stories filled with Maeve Binchy's trademark wit, charm, and sheer storytelling genius. Instead of nostalgia, Binchy evokes contemporary life; instead of Christmas homilies, she offers truth; and instead of sugarplums, she brings us the nourishment of holidays that precipitate change, growth, and new beginnings.

In "A Typical Irish Christmas," a grieving New York widower heads for a holiday in Ireland and finds an unexpected destination not just for himself, but for a father and daughter at odds. The title story "This Year It Will Be Different" also delves into the emotions of a person at mid-life--a woman with a complacent husband and grown children who are entering a season that can forever alter her life, and theirs. In "Pulling Together," a teacher not yet out of her twenties sees her affair with a married man at a turning point as Christmas Eve approaches--and she may be off on a new direction with some unusual friends. And in the delightful tale "The Hard Core," the four most recalcitrant residents of a nursing home are left alone at Christmas with the owner's daughter in charge: the result is sure to be disaster--or the kind of life-affirming renewal that only the spirit of the season can bring.

The stories in This Year It Will Be Different powerfully evoke many lives--step-families grappling with ex's, long-married couples faced with in-law problems, a wandering husband choosing between "the other woman" and his wife, a child caught in grown-up tugs-of-war--during the one holiday when feelings cannot be easily hidden. The time of year may be magical, imbued with meaning. But the situations are universal. And Maeve Binchy makes us care about them all. As the Philadelphia Inquirer noted, "Maeve Binchy's people come to life fully. They make you laugh and cry and disturb your sleep." They do precisely that in this extraordinary collection, on the night before Christmas when we are snug in our beds, or anywhere, any time of the year.©1996 Maeve Binchy; (P)1996 Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing, A Division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Poignant. . . Compassionate. . . All the stories boast Binchy's deft touch and knowing warmth."—San Francisco Chronicle

"What makes [Binchy's] stories so inviting is the subtle way they tilt from humor to sorrow, then back again, in the blink of an eye."—Detroit News/Free Press

"Wonderful."—Cincinnati Post

"Timeless."—Kansas City Star

"A delight."—Chattanooga Free Press

Poor sound!

Stories were cute but sound was like a screeching old record. Couldn’t finish- music was the worst sound.

Easy Christmas Entertainment

Each of the short stories have a bit of a lesson to them, and you'll find the same charming kind of characters that appear in so many of Maeve Binchy's books. Not everything is perfectly heartwarming, but that makes it more realistic.

I just wish this one were available with higher audio quality - it's only available in audio formats 1 and 2, and thus a little scratchy-sounding for those of us who use format 4. I burned cds of this to listen to in my car on a long roadtrip and it sounded horrid.

Kind of depressing but insightful

This is also a Christmas book for those of you who may not have noticed.

Terrible audio quality

The audio quality of this recording is terrible. Muffled and muddy. It made it very difficult to hear.

Poor quality audio

I really wanted to hear all the stories but didn’t even make it through the first. Reminds me of how we used to play a cassette tape on one player and record with another in an attempt to make a “copy”. I don’t understand why this would even be offered given today’s audio capabilities. Don’t waste your credit.