The major characters are used to drive the plot and delineate the themes and social concerns. The signature style of a Maeve Binchy novel, however, is a large cast of often eccentric players, and no character (however minor) is ever neglected. Binchy's particular talent is the ability to portray each of them with such vivid detail that readers feel they know each one as intimately as they do the members of their own family. Binchy's major character creations are drawn through careful description and the provision of detailed histories. But Binchy is often best when she reveals her more minor characters through other means.

Their actions and dialogue often tell more about them than their descriptions.

At the funeral for the body presumed to be Helen McMahon's, Binchy uses a camera eye to pan the assembled crowd, then zooms in on a family portrait which demonstrates that one...