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Evening Class
Maeve Binchy

About the author
Maeve Binchy was born on 28 March 1940 in Dalkey,
a small village outside Dublin, Ireland. She spent her
childhood in Dalkey and often draws on this experience
when creating the rural villages which are usually at the
centre of her novels. She took a BA degree inHistory at
University College, Dublin. She became a teacher and
taught in various girls’ schools. Her teaching post at a
Jewish school, and subsequent holiday in Israel, inspired
her to work on a kibbutz. While abroad, Binchy wrote
weekly letters to her father, describing life in a country
that was constantly on the brink of war. Her father
sent one of her letters to The Irish Times, where it waspublished and earned her eighteen pounds. She soon
became a popular columnist on The Irish Times and was
woman’s editor during the early days of Irish feminism.
She later moved to London, where she met and married
Gordon Snell, a writer and broadcaster. Maeve Binchy
wrote three volumes of short stories, two plays and a
television play, which won three awards at the Prague
Film Festival.Her first novel Light a Penny Candle was
published in 1982. It was an immediate success and since
then she has become one of Ireland’s best-known writers.
Her best-selling novels include Echoes (1985), Firefly
Summer (1987), Circle of Friends (1990), The Copper Beech
(1992), The Glass Lake (1994), Tara Road (1998) and
Scarlet Feather (2001).

Summary
Evening Class is a story about a groupof ordinary people
who each have their own reasons for joining a new
Italian evening class at a school in Dublin. The class is
run by two people who share a passion for Italy: Aidan
Dunne, a schoolteacher, and Nora O’Donoghue, whom
everyone knows as Signora. Like the other members of the

c Pearson Education Limited 2008

group, their lives are transformed as the story develops.
Allcharacters have problems and issues to resolve, and
manage to do so by the end of the story, which culminates
in a trip to Italy.
Chapter 1: Aidan, a teacher at Moutainview School,
is undergoing a difficult time. His wife, Nell, and his
daughters, Grania and Brigid, are becoming distant. The
position of Principal at school, which he expects to be
offered, is given to Tony O’Brien, a popularteacher who
spends his free time at parties and with younger woman.
Without anyone knowing who the other party is, Grania
and Tony have been going out. Tony informs Adain that
he’s been given the job and organizes Italian evening
classes under Aidan’s supervision. Garnia gets angry at
Tony.
Chapter 2: Nora O’Donoghue, a beautiful Irish young
woman, meets Mario, an Italian, in London. Theyfall
in love, but Mario goes back to Italy to marry Gabriella,
as his family has arranged. Nora moves to his town,
Annunziata – where she becomes known as Signora
– just to be near him. After 26 years, Mario dies in a car
accident, and his widow asks Nora to leave. She returns to
Dublin and rents a room at the Sullivans’s house. She is
a good influence for the family, and particularly fortheir
son, Jimmy, who goes to Mountainview School. Tony
O’Brian introduces her to Aidan, who also loves Italy.
Chapter 3: Bill Burke works with Grania at a bank. His
girlfriend, Lizzie, is a beautiful young girl interested in
money and fun. Bill finds it difficult to make ends meet;
he wants to help his family and tries to keep up to Lizzie’s
expectations. An announcement of possible openingsin
the continent for young people at the bank who speak
other languages leads him and Lizzie to the Italian classes.
He borrows money from the bank, which he expects to
pay back. When he learns that Lizzie’s mother left the
family when she was a girl, he understands Lizzie better.
Chapter 4: At the age of 15 Lou helps thieves that have
robbed his father’s shop to escape from the police, so...