'She was a very helpful and kind woman who always made time for people'
Oliver McCabe, general manager of Select Stores, Dalkey
“I knew Maeve well from my college days when she helped me with projects. She was a very helpful and kind woman who always made time for people. We are all in shock and have such fond memories of her. She was such a funny, witty person. She always picked up the phone to speak to people or answered her door.
“She never gave up and battled through ill health. I rang Maeve to come on board with the Dalkey Book Festival when it began and she was always supportive and enthusiastic. She always went into Finnegan’s pub to have her lunch and that’s where she would have had her event during the book festival. It was one of her favourite places in Dalkey. Sadly, this year would have been her last appearance before she got sick.”
Alan Finnegan, of Finnegan’s pub Dalkey
“I have been a neighbour of Maeve’s my whole life. We got the news last night from her sister shortly after she passed away. I hadn’t seen her in about a month but her husband Gordon had hoped she would come out of hospital.
“It’s a huge loss to us because she was such a part of our daily life even though she hadn’t been out and about recently.
“. . . She was a real character and gracious and friendly to everyone. She was very good with fans and spoke to anyone who came up to her.
“When she was in better health, she ate here three times a week. She would come in with her husband Gordon or with friends and liked a glass of wine with her lunch. Invariably someone would come up and say that they loved her and it was never just a perfunctory word from Maeve, she would chat to them and make them feel special. She had her usual seat that was kept for her with a candle on the table.
“She will be terribly missed.”
Trish O’Leary, Dalkey News shop and newsagents
“She was a lovely lady and always very willing to meet the public. People would go up to her house and knock on her door and she’d let them in and sign their books and invite them in for tea. She shared an office with her husband Gordon Snell so he will really miss her. They were very dedicated to each other. She looked out for the people around her and was so kind.
“She had elderly neighbours she would take them out to lunch. Maeve was a lady and her husband, Gordon Snell was equally as nice. I adore her husband, he’s such a gentleman and he cared for her.
“. . . Maeve couldn’t reconcile herself with God. She didn’t believe in religion but it took her a long time to get around to telling her father that as he was staunchly religious. She was brave to say that, she could have lied. He accepted her decision. She will be deeply missed in Dalkey.”
Lizanne Barry, Dalkey resident
“We have a lot of celebrities living in Dalkey but Maeve was very grounded and we felt closer to her as she was always seen in the area. A lot of things have happened in Dalkey recently and we were saddened when the Exchange bookshop was closed down as Maeve would have been supportive of it, so it feels like two great losses for Dalkey.
“. . . My favourite book she wrote was Circle of Friends, which I read in my early twenties. My own kids would have read the books too. People on the radio said her books were not very challenging or literary but her skill in writing was her closeness to people.”
Ali Moloney on holidays from the UK from Greystones originally.
“It is really sad that she’s gone as she was a brilliant and funny writer.
“I read Light a Penny Candle several years ago and it made me laugh so much. Anyone I know that ever met her, said she was an extraordinary, kind and funny woman. She will be sadly missed as she was meant to be such a character.
“My mum met her at an event where Maeve gave a lecture on how to write a book. Maeve talked about her time at school in Ireland. She said she was not the prettiest or most glamorous young woman but was modest and self-deprecating. She did not indulge in self-pity and was very humorous.
“Maeve brought happiness to everyone she met.”
Margaret Dunne, manager of Dalkey Castle and Heritage Centre
“It’s such sad news as Maeve was such a part of Dalkey’s history and heritage. Her support of other writers was phenomenal.
“. . . She was a great neighbour and a lovely person to have living in the town, regardless of her celebrity. She promoted Dalkey at every opportunity and did wonders for tourism in the area. . . She wrote about small-town Ireland and that could easily have meant Dalkey as she knew all the people. My last memory of Maeve is the lovely letter she wrote, thanking me for staging her play Deeply Regretted By. She was unable to attend the performance as she was unwell but she sent her husband and her friends to the performance. The play was based on a short story she wrote for The Irish Times, called Death in Kilburn.
“. . . Her legacy is her model as a writer. She always said, ‘Write a thousand words every day and you will have your novel in three months.’
“Her other big advice was: ‘Write about what you know.’ It was simple but worthwhile advice.”
Interviews by Áine McMahon