SOURCE: “Short Stories with a Romantic Touch,” in Christian Science Monitor, April 16, 1998, p. 8.

In the following review, Campbell offers a positive assessment of The Return Journey.

You've brushed your teeth and climbed into bed, and now comes the big decision: What to read before drifting off to sleep? If brevity is key, Irish author Maeve Binchy's latest collection makes the choice a little easier.

The Return Journey is full of short stories—bite-size reads, really—none of which tops 20 pages. These European-flavored tales all feature a trip of some kind. And, as always with Binchy, there are plenty of relationships (she is, after all, crafter of well-peopled novels like Circle of Friends and last year's Evening Class). Mothers, daughters, friends, lovers. They're all here.

The best story of the bunch, “Package Tour,” is also one of the shortest. In 10 pages, newly acquainted Irish “soul mates” Shane and Moya...