Page 17 - Gears and Ears January 2014

Book Review

A Week In Winter by Maeve Binchey

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
Rigger (a bad boy turned good who is handy around the house) and Orla, her
niece (a whiz at business), 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 school-
teacher, 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, is afraid of her own psychic visions.

This final novel of the noted Irish author has been described as comfortable and cozy; maybe the
kind of reading that would be perfect for that Winter’s day. She, herself, was eulogized as

“Ireland’s best loved and most recognizable writer.” Several reader reviews follow:

“This is a delightful, sunny story that makes you feel good inside just reading about Stone House

and all the marvelous characters, guests and staff, that help to make the hotel a reality. The book is
actually a series of short stories all tied together by the theme of preparing Stone House to

become a hotel and welcome guests. Each story is complete, but they build on each other to
compose the picture of the hotel and its guests.”

“A lovely book. The first I’ve ever read by Binchy, but based on this, probably not the last,
especially since her long time fans seem to indicate that this is not the best. Great characters, very

little plot.”

“A Week in Winter was my first journey into the world of Maeve Binchy, and it was a memorable

experience.”

“This book is beautiful. I have never read a book quite like it, and I know I will remember it for a
long, long time. “