Nights of Rain and Stars

Maeve Binchy

In a small taverna overlooking the bay in Aghia Anna, Greece, a small group of travelers watch as an excursion boats burns. It is shocking to them. Andreas, the owner of the taverna knows the owner of the boat and had watched him grow up. Some of the tourists there for dinner had taken the same trip within the past few days. Their conversations on that dreadful night bring the group close together quickly.

Fiona left her family in Dublin to be with her boyfriend, Shane. No one understands him but her (everyone else thinks he's selfish and mean). Elsa is running away from her television job and great love in Germany. She had discovered a secret he had that she can't accept. David is escaping his parents in London. His family wants him to join the family production business, an horrid thought for his artist's soul. Thomas has taken a sabbatical from his university position in Southern California. His ex-wife has remarried, so Thomas left so his son could get used to the new family situation without him there to make things more complicated. Even Andreas has his regrets. Years before he had fought about the taverna's future with his only child. Now Adonis lives in Chicago and they haven't spoken since the night of the argument.

The travelers decide to say in Aghia Anna at least until after the funeral. They have fallen in love with the small, quiet Greek village. Vonnie, an Irish woman who moved there 30 years earlier, helps them as they come to grips with the current tragedy and their own lives. Each person learns more about him/her self and comes to a decision for the future. Aghia Anna and its people are what they need as they all come to major life decisions.

Nights of Rain and Stars is an interesting novel as Maeve Binchy digs into each of the travelers' lives and motives. When the boat burns, Andreas insists they each contact their families to pass the news that they are safe. These conversations bring to the front the problems and tangles each is trying to avoid.

These people were strangers when they met in Andreas' taverna. By the end, all but one had forged new friendships and relationships. Each helped strengthen the others when needed. Vonnie also dealt a few verbal kicks in the pants as well. Those were not well accepted.

Although Nights of Rain and Stars is not a long novel and is a fairly easy read, the reader gets a good feel for the characters. I could easily imagine the peacefulness of the countryside around Aghia (eye-yuh) Anna after the world's journalistic eyes left the place after the funerals. It is a good place for contemplation and healing. A tragedy can often bring strangers together. Binchy is able to use that premise for a enjoyable novel.