'Scarlet' Woman
by Daisy Maryles -- Publishers Weekly, 3/19/2001
Even though St. Patrick's Day was observed this past Saturday, it clearly took more than the luck of the Irish for Maeve Binchy's Scarlet Feather to hit our fiction list at #3 after less than two weeks on sale. Not that this native (and lifelong resident) of the Emerald Isle didn't mark the holiday in grand style—ensconced on her own float, she rode down Chicago's Michigan Avenue as the literary guest of honor in that city's St. Patrick's Day parade. That appearance capped a week of festivities celebrating the publication of her 11th novel (she's also penned four short-story collections), which included a signing at the State Street Borders and her participation in a "Celebration of the Celtic Arts." Binchy's most recent novel, 1999's Tara Road, enjoyed a 37-week run on our hardcover and mass market lists; Dutton's first printing for her latest was 405,000.
