Now you can browse new titles by year.

Summary and Reviews of Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy

Scarlet Feather by Maeve Binchy

Scarlet Feather

by Maeve Binchy
  • Critics' Consensus:
  • Readers' Rating:
  • First Published:
  • Mar 1, 2001, 528 pages
  • Paperback:
  • Mar 2002, 560 pages
  • Rate this book

  • Buy This Book

About This Book

Book Summary

From New Year's Eve to New Year's Eve, readers will meet Tom Feather and Cathy Scarlet, their extended families, their many friends, and learn of the heartaches and triumphs, disappointments and joys, loves, losses, that can happen in time.

Scarlet Feather is the catering company newly formed by cooking school friends Tom Feather and Cathy Scarlet. They're young and talented, they've made some smart connections, and they've found the perfect premises to make their new business the best in Dublin--but not everyone seems as pleased by the idea of Scarlet Feather as they are.

Cathy's mother-in-law, already disapproving of her son's choice of a wife, thinks that Scarlet Feather is just a hobby and that Cathy should stay at home. Cathy's husband, Neil, a high-living civil rights lawyer pays no mind to anything--except his work. Tom's parents are disappointed he has turned his back on the family building business, and Tom's relationship with his beautiful, ambitious girlfriend, Marcella, begins to unravel as she struggles with career dreams of her own.

With the help of their family and friends, Tom and Cathy start to take Dublin by storm. While some things go according to plan, and their hard work begins to pay off, events occur that no one could have expected: The arrival of a precocious, troublesome twin niece and nephew to Cathy's home. Cathy's sister Marian, long since emigrated to Chicago, returning to Dublin in search of an "authentic" Irish wedding, replete with corned beef, cabbage, and leprechauns. And a troubled relative whose debts grow so great he will use any means necessary to get the money he needs--even if Scarlet Feather fails in the process. Maeve Binchy at her very best, Scarlet Feather is a novel capturing one year in time. From New Year's Eve to New Year's Eve, readers will meet Tom Feather and Cathy Scarlet, their extended families, their many friends, and learn of the heartaches and triumphs, disappointments and joys, loves, losses, and sometimes even miracles, that can happen in time.

New Year's Eve

On the radio show they were asking people what kind of a New Year's Eve did they really want. It was very predictable. Those who were staying at home doing nothing wanted to be out partying, those who were too busy and rushed wanted to go to bed with a cup of tea and be asleep before the festivities began.

Cathy Scarlet smiled grimly as she packed more trays of food into the van. There could hardly be anyone in Ireland who would answer the question by saying that they really and truly wanted to spend the night catering a supper party for a mother-in-law. Now that was the punishment posting tonight, feeding Hannah Mitchell's guests at Oaklands. Why was she doing it then? Partly for practice, and of course it would be a good way to meet potential customers. Jock and Hannah Mitchell knew the kind of people who could afford caterers. But mainly she was doing it because she wanted to prove to Hannah Mitchell that she could. That Cathy, daughter of poor Lizzie Scarlet, ...

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Reviews

Media Reviews

Kirkus Reviews
Another entertaining tale of contemporary Ireland with a big gathering of representative types—the addicted, the lonely, the unhappy—whose lives connect as two chefs start a catering business and cope with crises in work and love.... More a buffet with lots of variety and a few standouts than a thematically distinctive menu, but Binchy still serves up a narrative feast.

Library Journal
This novel (following the very popular Tara Road) has all of Binchy's trademark warmth, making it irresistible to most readers.

Publishers Weekly
By making her principal characters entrepreneurs, she reflects the ways Ireland's growing economic prosperity has altered social mores. Whether her readers are aware of such details, they help this wonderfully engaging book ring true.

Reader Reviews

Trupti

About scarlet feather
It is very good story. I am a student. So I like to read novels. Maeve binchy had written it very well. But in some cases I feel so boring. It is about Tom feather and Cathy feather that they had found scarlet feather. This is about the whole year. ...   Read More
Curcharel

Great novel, i would read it agian
LisaD

I just finished it last nite ... and was so sorry to see it end ... although i know it is not likely that she will revisit these characters ... i wish it would happen ... so much i still need to know ... the characters were real people for me ... ...   Read More

Write your own review!

Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Read-Alikes

Read-Alikes Full readalike results are for members only

If you liked Scarlet Feather, try these:

  • Everything Asian jacket

    Everything Asian

    by Sung J. Woo

    Published 2010

    About this book

    David King was twelve years old when he moved from Korea to New Jersey. In loosely-connected tales, we follow David as he adapts to his new country.

  • The Man Who Ate The 747 jacket

    The Man Who Ate The 747

    by Ben Sherwood

    Published 2002

    About this book

    Piece by piece, a farmer is eating a Boeing 747 to prove his love for a woman... Written with tenderness, originality, and insight, filled with old-fashioned warmth and newfangled humor, it is an extraordinary novel, a found treasure that marks the emergence of a major storytelling talent.

We have 4 read-alikes for Scarlet Feather, but non-members are limited to two results. To see the complete list of this book's read-alikes, you need to be a member.
More books by Maeve Binchy
Search read-alikes
How we choose read-alikes
Membership Advantages
  • Reviews
  • "Beyond the Book" articles
  • Free books to read and review (US only)
  • Find books by time period, setting & theme
  • Read-alike suggestions by book and author
  • Book club discussions
  • and much more!
  • Just $45 for 12 months or $15 for 3 months.
  • More about membership!

Top Picks

  • Book Jacket: The Schubert Treatment
    The Schubert Treatment
    by Claire Oppert
    Claire Oppert fell in love with music at an early age and trained to make a career as a classical ...
  • Book Jacket
    Murder by Degrees
    by Ritu Mukerji
    Lydia Weston is among the first wave of female physicians and professors in the United States. ...
  • Book Jacket: Women's Hotel
    Women's Hotel
    by Daniel M. Lavery
    In the 1920s–1960s, the Barbizon Hotel for Women was a residential hotel where respectable ...
  • Book Jacket: Intermezzo
    Intermezzo
    by Sally Rooney
    In 2022, Sally Rooney delivered a lecture that later ran in The Paris Review, in which she stated ...

Members Recommend

  • Book Jacket

    Libby Lost and Found
    by Stephanie Booth

    Libby Lost and Found is a book for people who don't know who they are without the books they love.

Who Said...

You can lead a man to Congress, but you can't make him think.

Click Here to find out who said this, as well as discovering other famous literary quotes!

Wordplay

Solve this clue:

H I O the G

and be entered to win..