By the school house at Shancarrig stands a copper beech, its bark scarred with the names and dreams of the pupils who have grown up under its branches. Under Junior Assistant Mistress Maddy Rosss careful gaze the children play, but out of school Maddys gaze lingers where it shouldnt. Maura Brennan, a bundle of fun from the rough end of town, plays with her pals: leap year baby Eddie Barton, the apple of his mothers eye, and Nessa Ryan, who little realises as she carves his name at the roots of the copper beech on the very last day of school that shell get a lot more from one of her schoolmates than her first shy kiss. The copper beech is the gateway to Maeve Binchys marvellous portrait of a small Irish town whose untroubled surface conceals the passions, rivalries, friendships, ambitions and jealousies beneath.