Victoria line, Central lLine (by Maeve Binchy)

(Amazon UK link)

I like Maeve Binchy's novels, particularly her later ones. But I'm a little less certain about her short stories. They have nice characterisation, but sometimes tend to leave the endings open. My preference is for short stories to have a clear resolution.

'Victoria line, Central line' is a collection of Binchy's short stories. They are cleverly written with realistic characters, often facing unusual situations. Unfortunately I found that some of them seemed to end rather too abruptly, leaving me wondering what would happen.

However that's what I have come to expect, now, with Maeve Binchy's short stories. So I was pleased to find that on the whole they were enjoyable and thought-provoking. I realised, after I had started, that I had read them previously. I even remembered parts of some of the plots. This didn't spoil them at all, and probably made them all the more interesting.

This collection would make good reading for a holiday, as none of the stories are particularly long.