More from my holiday reading:

Maeve Binchy has written Star Sullivan (Orion, 2006) as part of a series of books called, Quick Reads, which are books that are about 100 pages long. These books provide the opportunity for readers to gain a small taste of the writing styles of different authors without having to commit to reading several hundred pages. This is ideal for people like me who are picky about the type of fiction they like to read.

I very much enjoyed Star Sullivan which is basically a character study of a young girl, nicknamed Star. Star is portrayed as a kind hearted girl who wants to help others. However as the story progresses we realize that her motives for helping others is actually selfish. She just wants to avoid conflict and so rescues people from the consequences of their actions. Eventually she is force to face the negative consequences of her rescuing attempts and realizes that she is only creating more difficulties for the people she cares about.

The story ends with a more mature Star who allows people the freedom to deal with their own problems rather than interfering in an attempt to keep the peace.