Maeve Binchy was born in a small village outside Dublin. She spent her childhood in Dalkey, an experience she draws on today when creating the rural villages usually at the heart of her novels. After receiving her B.A. from University College in Dublin, she began working as a teacher. The experiences she had while teaching at a Jewish school and on vacation in Israel compelled her to find work on a kibbutz. While abroad in Israel, she wrote weekly letters to her father describing life in a country constantly on the brink of war. When Binchy's father sent one of her letters to The Irish Times where it was published and earned her ￡18, Binchy, who had been making ￡16 working at the school, thought that she had truly "arrived."