Maeve Binchy, a popular Irish author who sold more than 40 million books worldwide, died this week. She was 72.

Her death came after a short illness, the Associated Press reports.

Binchy, who had suffered from heart ailments in the past, wrote 16 novels, including Circle of Friends and Tara Road. Her latest book, A Week in Winter, is scheduled to be published this year, the AP adds.

“We have lost a national treasure,” Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny said, according to the news service.

“I do realize that I am a popular writer who people buy to take on vacation,” she had told the website BookReporter, according to the news service. “I’m an escapist kind of writer. I was just lucky I lived in this time of mass-market paperbacks.”

We’re lucky to have read her books.

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