Echoes (Binchy novel)#Adaptation
{{short description|Novel by Irish author Maeve Binchy}}
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Echoes (Binchy novel)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{infobox book |
| name = Echoes
| image = Echoes (Binchy novel) cover.jpg
| caption = First edition cover
| author = Maeve Binchy
| country = Ireland
| language = English
| series =
| genre = Novel
| publisher = Century
| release_date = 1985
| pages =
| isbn =
| preceded_by =
| followed_by =
}}
Echoes is a 1985 novel by the Irish author Maeve Binchy. As Binchy's second novel, it explores various themes of Irish small-town life, including social classes and expectations, the paucity of educational opportunities before the introduction of free secondary education in 1967, and women's roles. A four-part television miniseries was adapted from the novel in 1988.
Synopsis
Set in the fictional Irish seaside resort town of Castlebay, the novel follows the lives of several local families between the years 1950 and 1962.{{cite web |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/books/from-abortion-to-infidelity-how-maeve-binchy-chronicled-ireland-1.3225269|title=From abortion to infidelity: how Maeve Binchy chronicled Ireland|first=Margaret|last=Kelleher|date=22 September 2017|accessdate=22 December 2018|work=The Irish Times}} The primary three families act as a counterbalance to one another: the wealthy Powers, whose father is the local doctor and mother is a city girl from Dublin; the struggling O'Briens, who eke out a living from the eleven-week long summer season in their grocery-confectionery shop; and the charming but secretive Doyles, whose father runs the local photography concession.{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-02-06-vw-5017-story.html|title=Book Review: Fate Echoes Through an Irish Town|first=Carolyn|last=See|authorlink=Carolyn See|date=6 February 1986|access-date=22 December 2018|work=Los Angeles Times}}
Their children's lives are guided by their social class and expectations: young David Power goes off to Dublin to earn his medical degree, following in his father's footsteps, while young Gerry Doyle stays in the town and inherits his father's business. Only Clare O'Brien seeks to advance beyond her station and go to college. With the help of a local schoolteacher who was herself a scholarship student, Clare earns scholarships to secondary school and university, and ends up at University College Dublin to pursue her degree.
There she falls in love with David Power and they move in together, unbeknownst to their families; but when she becomes pregnant, they are forced to marry. They return to Castlebay so David can begin assuming his father's practice, but Clare is desperately unhappy being relegated to a second-class position in the Power family and in the town. Gerry, who has a secret passion for Clare, tries to entice her away from David, but the book ends with his dramatic death and the strengthening of Clare's marriage.
Subplots revolve around Clare's teacher, whose brother Sean, a priest, has married and had children with a Japanese woman but is unable to obtain a laicization from Rome; Clare's brothers, who go to work in England and one of whom ends up in jail; and upper-class summer visitors from Dublin who become involved with the locals in intimate ways.{{cite web |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/maeve-binchy-2/echoes-2/|title=Echoes|work=Kirkus Reviews|year=2018|accessdate=22 December 2018}}
Themes
Small-town mores and narrow-mindedness affect the lives of all the characters in Castlebay.{{cite web |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-670-80938-7|title=Echoes|magazine=Publishers Weekly|accessdate=22 December 2018}} The paucity of educational opportunities in small towns before the introduction of free secondary education in 1967 is also a central theme. Binchy explores the opportunities for women afforded by travel and migration, as Clare and David find freedom in Dublin and Sean's Japanese wife enjoys raising her children in England.
Reception
Echoes was Binchy's second novel.{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Maeve-Binchy#ref666051|title=Maeve Binchy|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia Britannica|year=2018|accessdate=22 December 2018}} It has been cited as one of her most popular titles.{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/jul/31/maeve-binchy|title=Maeve Binchy obituary|first=Conor|last=O'Clery|date=31 July 2012|accessdate=27 December 2018|work=The Guardian}} It was selected as a Literary Guild alternate.{{cite web |url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-0-670-80938-7|title=Echoes|magazine=Publishers Weekly|accessdate=27 December 2018}}
Adaptation
A four-part television miniseries was adapted from the novel in 1988. The series was produced for Channel 4 by Working Title Films in association with RTÉ.{{cite book|title=The Continuing Story of Irish Television Drama: Tracking the tiger|first=Helena|last=Sheehan|publisher=Four Courts Press|year=2004|page=62|isbn=978-1-85182-688-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cRQbAQAAIAAJ&q=Echoes|accessdate=3 January 2010}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3D50Tnf3ZzoC&pg=PA217|title=Contemporary Irish Cinema: From The Quiet Man to Dancing at Lughnasa|editor-first=James |editor-last=MacKillop |year=1999|publisher=Syracuse University Press|isbn=9780815627982|page=217}}