Winter Solstice - Hardcover

Pilcher, Rosamunde

4.22

36,020 ratings by Goodreads

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0340767464 ISBN 13: 9780340767467

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 2000

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Elfrida Phipps loves her new life in the pretty Hampshire village. She has a tiny cottage, her faithful dog Horace and the friendship of the neighbouring Blundells - particularly Oscar - to ensure that her days include companionship as well as independence. But an unforeseen tragedy upsets Elfrida's tranquillity: Oscar's wife and daughter are killed in a terrible car crash and he finds himself homeless when his stepchildren claim their dead mother's inheritance. Oscar and Elfrida take refuge in a rambling house in Scotland which becomes a magnet for various waifs and strays who converge upon it, including an unhappy teenage girl. It could be a recipe for disaster. But somehow the Christmas season weaves its magical spell and for Elfrida and Oscar, in the evening of their lives, the winter solstice brings love and solace.

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Review:

Rosamunde Pilcher's novel, despite its chilly setting, will warm the hearts of her growing army of loyal fans. Winter Solstice has all the familiar trademarks of a Pilcher saga, spun in her inimitable, homely, beguiling style. The story is told, chapter by chapter, from the perspectives of an eclectic array of characters. Former actress Elfrida--not very good by her own admission--leaves London for a geriatric bolt-hole in the country where she meets retired schoolmaster and organist, Oscar. Carrie, meanwhile (Elfrida's second cousin), returns to London from Austria and her brilliant career in the tourist industry, only to find her niece, 14-year-old Lucy, sadly neglected by her selfish mother and equally spoilt grandmother. Finally, handsome Sam is recalled from New York by his company chairman to rekindle an ailing Scottish textile mill.

As one after another must learn to live with their own kinds of loss, they find themselves collectively spirited northwards, from Sussex to Scotland, by way of Cornwall. And, as events unfurl, slowly, surely, but inevitably, those in need find solace in unexpected places. While her characterisations are, generally, carefully crafted and entirely rounded, Ms Pilcher's greatest strengths lie in her natural, easy narratives of everyday life, her thoroughly researched and captivating descriptions of scenery and surroundings. --Carey Green

Review:

As always, Pilcher is a sensible fairy godmother, bestowing happy endings upon the worthy and heartsick. . . [she has a] . . . remarkably evocative sense of place and watercolorist's eye for muted detail. (Kirkus Review)

'The literary equivalent of the appetising smell of bacon frying' Penny Perrick, Sunday Times

Pilcher's strength is knowing what she can do well and writing about what she knows. She has a way of tapping into the emotional life of her readers and making them care about characters not unlike themselves. (Daily Telegraph)

'One of our favourite writers' The Lady

'a warm, comforting book, the kind you want to curl up with' Choice

An entrancing tale of middle-aged love, broken hearts and teenage angst (Daily Express)

'warm and readable' The Scotsman

Rosamunde Pilcher's warm spell is charming and utterly convincing (Daily Mail)

'makes you feel calm, contented and at one with the universe. You won't want to miss a word' Fair Lady (Sept 2000 - S. Africa)

Unashamed hymns to the virtues of domesticity, continuity and human warmth. And (they are) thundering good reads (Lady)

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