Tara Road by Maeve Binchy

• Born: May 28, 1940
• Birthplace: Dalkey, Ireland
• Died: July 30, 2012

First published: 1998

Type of work: Novel

Type of plot: Narrative

Time of plot: 1976–ca. 1998

Locale: Dublin, Ireland; the fictional town of Stoneyfield, Connecticut

Principal Characters

Ria Johnson Lynch, an Irish housewife and mother

Danny Lynch, her husband, a successful Dublin real estate executive

Barney McCarthy, Danny Lynch’s mentor and business partner

Mona McCarthy, his wife

Marilyn Vine, an American college professor’s wife

The Story

Ria Johnson, the protagonist, grows up in Ireland with her strict widowed mother and a somewhat rebellious older sister named Hilary. The less adventurous Ria regularly helps Hilary sneak out of the house and comes to her for advice, but the two also have a certain rivalry.

Upon finishing school, Ria becomes a secretary. At the office where she works, she meets Danny Lynch, a flashy and ingratiating young real estate executive. She falls in love with him instantly, and he seems to return her feelings; the two soon marry. Danny Lynch’s partnership with the older, savvy businessman Barney McCarthy sends his financial star soaring and enables the Lynches to purchase a large house on Dublin’s prestigious Tara Road. Riding on the crest of the "Celtic Tiger" economic upsurge of the 1990s, McCarthy and Lynch seem destined to go from one triumph to another. Ria foresees a dream-come-true life for herself, tending the house and their two children and entertaining Danny’s friends, associates, and clients as necessary. Compared to her sister Hilary’s rather bland marriage to a teacher named Martin Moran, Ria’s existence seems to be the stuff of fantasy.

However, Ria’s marriage begins unraveling as Danny begins to be absent for longer and longer periods and the family receives a strange phone call from an unknown woman. Just as Ria is sitting with Danny at a restaurant, pondering how to tell him of her desire to have a third child, he blurts out that Bernadette Dunne, a twenty-two-year-old woman with whom he has been having an affair, is pregnant with his child. He leaves his wife and children to live with Bernadette, leaving Ria shattered and virtually on her own in the Tara Road house.

Ria then gets a call from Marilyn Vine of Stoneyfield, Connecticut. Marilyn is the wife of college professor Greg Vine, but their marriage has been disturbed by the tragic death of their teenage son Dale in a motorcycle accident, a death for which Marilyn blames both herself and her husband. When Greg goes on faculty exchange to Hawaii, she does not accompany him and faces a summer alone with her painful memories in their large house. Desperate for a change, she attempts to call Danny Lynch, to whom she had spoken years before regarding a property transaction, but reaches Ria instead. The two women then make an arrangement to exchange houses: for two months, Ria will live in Stoneyfield and Marilyn will live on Tara Road. The arrangement is such that the women do not meet each other but "cross over" almost simultaneously. Ria’s children are unable to accompany her for the first month; they stay with their father, Bernadette, and Bernadette’s mother, Finola, until they can join their mother in the United States.

The exchange proves to be a life-altering experience for both Ria and Marilyn. Both undergo the expected culture shock, but additionally, each indirectly learns about the other’s life and situation and discovers secrets that she can never reveal. Ria, during her first month of adjusting to life at the Stoneyfield house, has a chance to meet Greg Vine’s brother, Andy, and kindle a platonic friendship. From later talking to Greg Vine and others, she learns more about Dale’s death.

Marilyn, settling into life at Tara Road, has the occasion to meet and interact with Ria’s family and friends and gains an invaluable outsider’s perspective. She discovers that Danny’s womanizing extended far beyond just Bernadette Dunne and included Ria’s best friend, Rosemary Ryan—something she can never reveal to Ria. Ria likewise has found out a secret that she can never let Marilyn know: her son was responsible for the accident in which he and another young man died, as he was driving his motorcycle while intoxicated.

During the course of the house exchange, Barney McCarthy and Danny Lynch come to financial grief. Their high-rolling speculation comes to an end, some important business ventures go sour, and they face total bankruptcy. At the eleventh hour, they are partially rescued by McCarthy’s wife, Mona. Previously depicted as passive, pliant, and indifferent to her husband’s infidelities with Polly Callaghan, Mona McCarthy lets it be known that she has been quietly amassing investments of her own. What she has accrued is enough to save Barney and Danny from complete disgrace. Her price is that Barney renounces his liaison. Danny must still sell the Tara Road house, though Ria and his children will be provided for, albeit in less luxurious surroundings.

The end of the exchange experience brings some closure and resolution to Ria and Marilyn. Ria has accepted the beginning of a new life without Danny and is taking the initial steps toward an independent career as a caterer. Marilyn, reconciled as far as it is possible to be with her loss and freed of her crippling guilt, is set to embark on a new phase in her marriage.

Bibliography

Drew, Bernard A. 100 Most Popular Genre Fiction Authors: Biographical Sketches and Bibliographies. Westport: Libraries Unlimited, 2005. Print.

Dudgeon, Piers. Maeve Binchy: The Biography. London: Robson, 2013. Print.

Gonzalez, Alexander G. Irish Women Writers: An A-to-Z Guide. Westport: Greenwood, 2006. Print.

Peach, Linden. Contemporary Irish and Welsh Women’s Fiction: Gender, Desire and Power. Cardiff: U of Wales P, 2007. Print.