Star Sullivan

‘Warm, witty . . . it’s little wonder that Maeve
Binchy’s bewitching stories have become
world-beaters’
OK Magazine

‘This is a book which would be perfect self-
indulgence on a summer’s day or one to cheer
a rainy one’
Daily Express

‘You’ll be hooked by the characters from the
start and the fine storytelling simply sweeps
you along’
Woman’s Realm

‘This is Binchy at her finest’
Woman and Home

‘Drama, humour, warmth and great characters
– it’s what we expect from Maeve Binchy, one
of the world’s best-loved writers’
Woman’s Weekly

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
, for which she wrote feature articles and columns. 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
. She was awarded the Lifetime Achievement award at the British Book Awards in 1999. She is married to the writer and broadcaster Gordon Snell. Visit her website at
www.maevebinchy.com

Cover

Title

Dedication

Praise for Maeve Binchy

About the Author

By Maeve Binchy

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Copyright

M
OLLY
S
ULLIVAN SAID THAT
the new baby was a little star. She was no trouble at all and she was always smiling.

Shay Sullivan said the new baby was a star picker of winners, it pointed its little fist at the horse on the list that was going to win.

So she became known as Star and everyone forgot that her real name was Oona. Star forgot it herself. At school when they read out the roll-call they always said, ‘Star Sullivan?’ On the street where she lived people would shout over to her, ‘Star, would you do us a favour and mind the baby for me?’ or run to the corner shop, or help to fold a big tablecloth, or find a puppy that had gone missing. Star Sullivan had a head of shiny copper hair, a ready smile and a good nature, and she did everything that she was asked to.

There were three older than Star in the family and none of them had her easy, happy ways.

There was Kevin, he was the eldest. He said he was going to work in a gym, eventually own his own sports club, and he fought with his father about everything.

There was Lilly, who was going to be a model one day and had no interest in anyone except herself.

There was Michael, who spent more time in the head teacher’s office than he did in the classroom. He was always in trouble over something.

And then there was Star.

Often Star asked her mother, would there be another baby coming? Someone she could push in a pram up and down Chestnut Street. But her mother said no, definitely not. The angel who brought babies had brought enough to number 24. It would be greedy to ask for more.

So Star pushed other people’s babies and played with their cats. On her own.

Chestnut Street was a lovely place to play, because it was shaped like a horseshoe and there was a big bit of grass in the middle beside some chestnut trees.

Some of the people who lived there went to great trouble to keep it looking nice. Others just
sat there at night and drank lager and left the cans.

There were other children around but Star was shy. She was afraid to go up to a group playing in case they told her to go away. Everyone else looked as if they were having a good time already so she hung about on the edges and never joined them.

Molly Sullivan was glad that her youngest child was so little trouble. There was too much else to think about. Like Shay’s gambling, for instance. He said he was doing it for them all, for the family. He was going to have a big win and take them all on a holiday. Foolish decent Shay, who worked in the kitchens of a big hotel and dreamed of becoming the kind of man who could stay there as a guest. As if any of them except little Star would ever want to go on a family holiday, were he ever to afford it!

And Molly Sullivan worried about her work. She worked shifts in a supermarket where they were very busy and she was run off her feet. She had to keep a big smile on her face and be very quick lest they think she was too old and let her go.

She worried about Kevin. He was grumbling
because he was still picking up towels and taking the bookings at the Sports Club. He thought he should have been made a trainee manager by now.

Molly worried about Lilly, too. She worked far too hard, endless hours at a telesales centre, so that she could pay for further model training courses. She was thinner than ever and ate practically nothing at home. Of course she said they had
huge
lunches in the office, which was odd, as Molly didn’t think they had a kitchen there. But then Lilly wouldn’t say it unless it was true.

And as for Michael! Well, he was a worry from dawn till dusk. His teachers said that he would barely be able to read by the time he left school. He had no interest in any subject. His future looked very bleak indeed.

So it was always consoling to think about little Star with her eager face. Star who had never caused any trouble to anyone. Star wore Lilly’s old clothes with pleasure, and even the T-shirts of the two boys. She didn’t ask for anything new.

At school they said she didn’t find the work easy and was always very anxious if asked to
read or recite a poem. She was a kind child, they said, and if anyone else fell in the playground or got sick, Star Sullivan was always there to help. Maybe she might be a nurse one day, suggested Miss Casey, one of the teachers. Molly was pleased. It would be lovely to have a nurse in the family after the two dreamers who thought they were going to run a sports club or parade down a catwalk, and Michael who might well end up in gaol.

Shay said that Star would make some man a terrific wife, because she was so interested in things instead of just sighing and shrugging her shoulders like the rest of the family. He would explain the odds to her and the difference it made if the going was hard or soft, and the weights the jockeys had added, and how to do an Accumulator or a Yankee. She would ask bright questions, too, and once or twice had prevented him from doing something foolish.

‘Only once or twice?’ Molly had said, wearily.

‘That’s what I mean,’ Shay said. ‘She doesn’t make bitter, harsh remarks like you do, like everyone else does. She’s a little treasure, Star is.’

And Kevin never said a word against her. She
helped him clean his shoes and asked all about the people who came to use the fitness machines in the gym. And she never took any of Lilly’s things, just admired them. She never told her mother that Lilly stuffed uneaten food in the back of the dressing-table drawers in the room they shared.

Even Michael had a soft spot for Star. She didn’t carry horrible news back from school about him. In fact, she told her parents that he was getting on much better than he actually was and sometimes she tried to help him with his homework, even though she was two years younger.