Maeve Binchy was born in County Dublin and was educated at the Holy Child Convent in Killiney and at University College Dublin. After a spell as a teacher in various girls' schools, she joined the Irish Times. Her first novel, Light a Penny Candle was published in 1982 and since then she has written more than a dozen novels and short story collections, each one of them bestsellers. Several have been adapted for cinema and television, most notably Circle of Friends and Tara Road.

Maeve was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the British Book Awards in 1999. And in 2007 was presented with the Irish PEN/AT Cross Literary Award for a lifetime of literary achievement. She is married to the writer and broadcaster Gordon Snell and lives in Dalkey, Co Dublin.