Synopsis:
Maeve Binchy, "the grand story teller,"* returns with a cast of characters you will never forget when they all spend a winter week together on holiday at Stone House, a restful inn by the sea...
Stoneyville is a small town on the coast of Ireland where all the families know each other. When Chicky decides to take an old decaying mansion, Stone House, and turn it into a restful place for a holiday by the sea, the town thinks she is crazy. She is helped by Rigger (a bad boy turned good who is handy around the place) and her niece Orla (a whiz at business). Finally the first week of paying guests arrive: John, the American movie star thinks he has arrived incognito; Winnie and Lillian, forced into taking a holiday together; Nuala and Henry, husband and wife, both doctors who have been shaken by seeing too much death; Anders, the Swedish boy, hates his father's business, but has a real talent for music; Miss Nell Howe, a retired school teacher, who criticizes everything and leaves a day early, much to everyone's relief; the Walls who have entered in 200 contests (and won everything from a microwave oven to velvet curtains, including the week at Stone House); and Freda, the psychic who is afraid of her own visions. You will laugh and cry as you spend the week with this odd group who share their secrets and might even have some of their dreams come true.
Review:
Set in a country house hotel on the West coast of Ireland it's full of her trademark warmth, humour and lovable characters (WOMAN)
A book to treasure. It's classic Maeve Binchy territory, filled with characteristic warmth and captivating storytelling (HELLO)
Binchy's compassion and warmth are undimmed ... Over her long career as a novelist she tackled many serious issues with the compassion, intelligence and wit that anyone who ever read her wonderful journalism would expect. ... All the characters in A Week in Winter are struggling - with traumatic memories, with isolation, with regret. Yet Binchy guides her creations through their troubles with a firm and kind hand, leaving them ready for a happier future. Maybe that's why so many readers loved her so much. That and the fact that she always knew how to tell a very good story (IRISH TIMES)
It is no exaggeration to say that Maeve and her books were loved. Deservedly so. A Week in Winter is shot through with her trademark charm ... here is an author who had a zest for life (BELFAST TELEGRAPH)
Lovely Irish voices do full justice to Maeve Binchy's final novel, which brims with heartwarming life. (THE OLDIE)
This is a book designed to be read in a dark January chill; it begs for a fireside and the sound of wind and rain howling outside ... If you haven't come across her before, you've got a real treat in store (THE LADY)
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