Maeve Binchy, the renowned author of heartwarming fiction, spins another delightful tale of community, love, and self-discovery in her novel A Week in Winter. The book follows the story of Chicky Starr on the west coast of Ireland in Stoneybridge. In this review, we’ll dive into the world of A Week in Winter. We’ll explore the characters, setting, and themes that make this novel a must-read for fans of women’s fiction and family dramas.
Stoneybridge is a small town on the west coast of Ireland where all the families know one another. When Chicky Starr decides to take an old, decaying mansion set high on the cliffs overlooking the windswept Atlantic Ocean and turn it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea, everyone thinks she is crazy. Helped by a bad boy turned good who is handy around the house and Orla, her niece, Chicky is finally ready to welcome the first guests to Stone House’s big warm kitchen, log fires, and understated elegant bedrooms.
John, the American movie star, thinks he has arrived incognito; Winnie and Lillian are forced into taking a holiday together; Nicola and Henry, husband and wife, have been shaken by seeing too much death practicing medicine; Anders hates his father’s business, but has a real talent for music; Miss Nell Howe, a retired schoolteacher who criticizes everything and leaves a day early, much to everyone’s relief; the Walls are disappointed to have won this second-prize holiday in a contest where first prize was Paris; and Freda, the librarian, who is afraid of her own psychic visions.
Sharing a week with this unlikely cast of characters is pure joy, full of Maeve’s trademark warmth and humor. Once again, she embraces us with her grand storytelling.
Maeve Binchy has written numerous best-selling books. Her most recent best seller was Minding Frankie. She’s also the author of Heart and Soul, Whitethorn Woods, Light a Penny Candle, Tara Road, and Circle of Friends. Binchy died in 2012 in Dalkey, Ireland at the age of 72. Shortly before her death she had just completed the novel, A Week in Winter.
The setting of the storyline is a small town on the west coast of Ireland where everyone knows each other. The cast has a wide, mixed array of personalities with varying life experiences and responses which really hook the reader. It’s difficult to put the book down! All of the guests at Chicky Starr’s inn tell their own stories throughout the chapters of the book. Once the guests gather these stories are woven together. Although many of Maeve Binchy’s books touched me in some way, I feel that this was one of her best. She was a wonderful writer.
Purchase A Week in Winter: https://amzn.to/3EMkZAh
