Evening Class stands alone as the only Binchy novel set in contemporary Ireland. The division of the story into segments that each deal with one focal character and then culminate in a concluding chapter is similar to the storytelling technique she uses in The Copper Beech (1993; see separate entry), a series of separate short stories that are connected by common characters and cumulatively form a novel.

The theme of change in human lives and growth in human personalities pervades many of Binchy's works. It is particularly prevalent in four novels that focus on a female protagonist in late childhood, and then follow her maturation process through early womanhood.

Light A Penny Candle (\ 982), Echoes (1987), Circle of Friends (1990; see separate entry), and The Glass Lake (1995; see separate entry) all deal with the process of unfolding and blooming. This evolutionary theme also pervades every story in the collection This...