Binchy launched her career as a novelist with LIGHT A PENNY CANDLE in 1982

Popular Irish novelist Maeve Binchy has died in Dublin after a brief illness. She was 72.

The Telegraph calls Binchy “Ireland’s national treasure,” noting, “She was always delightfully self-deprecating, saying once: ‘I was very pleased, obviously, to have outsold great writers. But I’m not insane – I do realise that I am a popular writer who people buy to take on vacation.’ ”

The Irish Times, where she once worked as a journalist, writes about her love of Ireland and quotes her saying,  “the fax was invented so we writers could live anywhere we liked, instead of living in London near publishers.”

Her most recent book, Minding Frankie (RH/Knopf), was published last year.

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