The Return Journey is a collection of 14 short stories of life, love and learning that enables the most harried reader to enjoy a well-told tale in its entirety before checking on the kids or sorting the washing. In the tradition of Binchy's classic tales Circle of Friends and Tara Road, this consummate summer beach book introduces readers not to models of literary and romantic indefectibility, but to people just like us, who lose their car keys and have bad hair days. The title story paints a portrait of the embattled relationship between a mother who left her home in Dunglass, Ireland, and her daughter, who has travelled to Ireland to find her history and finds love, as well. Through weekly correspondence, mother and daughter repair the damage to their relationship, laying to rest ghosts of an earlier mother-daughter relationship gone irrevocably wrong. Binchy's Victor and St. Valentine renews faith that truly romantic men do exist and are often overlooked, their motives suspect in an increasingly self-reliant world. No one can accuse Binchy of overtelling a tale; she has perfected the art of leading her readers to the verge and then allowing them to loose their imaginations as they see fit. --Alison Trinkle --This text refers to the mass market paperback edition of this title