A Week in Winter

When I've read too many gruesome mysteries, or too many books that have left me really questioning the goodness of human nature, I turn to a Maeve Binchy to renew my love of sitting down with a good book. Think of it like a bowl of chocolate ice cream after an unusually difficult day. Her simple Irish novels are always character driven and the characters are people you can imagine meeting in your own life, not to mention, there is never a sociopath in the group. A Week in Winter is more a collection of related short stories, all based around a small bed and breakfast overlooking the ocean in a small Irish town. People are coming to the resort to relax, have an adventure, or get away from their lives. Not all the stories have that show more happily-ever-after resolution, but they are well told and make me pause and think about people I know and aspects of my own life. I'm sad that Maeve Binchy died in 2012 and that this is one of her last books. show less

My sister-in-law Jane always knows best. You can just ask her! All joshing aside, Jane has been literally telling me for years that I needed to read Maeve Binchy. She couldn’t believe I hadn’t read one of her works already! But I always had so much to read, so I put it off. And off. And off. Until a colleague at work got me A Week in Winter.

OK, Jane. You’re right. Again.

Free spirit Geraldine “Chicky” Ryan runs away from Ireland’s backward and provincial West of Ireland with a fellow free spirit, handsome American Walter Starr, much to the consternation of Chicky’s hard-scrabble farming family and Walter’s patrician family. In New York City, Chicky and Walter live in a commune apartment, and she maintains a cordial, show more weekly letter-exchange with family and friends in the village of Stoneybridge.

But when restless Walter proves to be a little too free and decides to move on, Chicky needs to decide what to do. She’s determined never to return to judgmental Stoneybridge and her disapproving family. For years, she lives one life in New York and reports a more successful, exciting life to those left behind in Stoneybridge. But in the end, at middle age, Chicky returns — but not as a sorrowful penitent — but as a returning conqueror, someone who turns the crumbling Sheedy mansion, Stone House, into a one-of-a-kind seaside hotel. Assisted by Miss Queenie Sheedy, Chicky’s bright and business-savvy niece Orla, and Richard (nicknamed “Rigger”), the wayward illegitimate son of Chicky’s old friend Nuala, clever Chicky transforms not just broken-down Stone House but the broken spirits who pass through. Despite the bracing wind (read: “freezing blasts of air”) in the west of Ireland, Binchy made me long to spend a week in such a restorative home under the guidance of the generous Chicky Starr. And for a sun worshipper like me, someone who develops gooseflesh at the grocery store in August, that’s really saying something.

Those lucky enough to read the audio version will find that reader Rosalyn Landor a right treat, as the Irish say.

And, Jane, I hope all is forgiven. A Week in Winter won’t be my last Maeve Binchy. You were right — as usual. show less

Reading a Maeve Binchy novel is like having a comforting cup of tea on a cold day. I was sad to hear that Ms. Binchy died this past year and this was her last novel. This is just a sweet story that has all the reasons to like Binchy--an Irish location an a cast of colorful local characters. Some lead solitary lives, some find love, some make major changes to their circumstances while others do not, most wear sensible clothes. Sweet... her stories are always sweet. Just enough sadness without being full on tragedy and enough joy to balance the sadness. This particular Binchy takes place in a hotel. A woman returns to her hometown with a secret and opens a hotel. The story focuses on the cast that work at the hotel and also the guests show more that arrive the first week. The end seemed a bit unfinished--like maybe Binchy was holding on to the last few chapters to wrap this novel up. show less

I needed a cozy winter read and this hit the spot. The story takes place in Stonybridge, a quiet coastal town in Ireland. We dive right in with the story of Chicky, a young woman who is swept off her feet and follows her love to America. Years later she returns to Stonybridge to turn an old home into a hotel. The house belongs to Miss Queenie, an elderly woman whose two spinster sisters have passed away. Chicky’s story starts the book, but each chapter introduces the reader to a new person’s life.

There’s Rigger, a troubled youth who ends up in Stonybridge to escape his mistakes. He leaves behind his mom, Nuala and his uncle Nasey, and a lot of hard feelings. We meet Winnie and watch as she falls in love but struggles to get along show more with her boyfriend’s difficult mother. There’s a fussy school principal, an American movie star who needs a rest, two English doctors, a young woman with a talent for seeing the future, and a kitten named Gloria.

Binchy weaves the stories together in such a beautiful way. She layers one character on top of another, each one adding depth to the novel as a whole. Not every person gets a happy ending, but each story is one that I loved living in for a chapter.

BOTTOM LINE: By the end of the novel I wanted to call Stone House and book a weeklong stay with Chicky and the gang. It’s heartbreaking that this was the last new Binchy novel I will ever read. I hate that there are no more characters for me to discover but I’m so glad her final work was a perfect example of her ability to create a world that feels both familiar and brand new at the same time. show less

A Week in Winter - Binchy
Audio performance by Rosalyn Landor
3.5 stars

This was classic Maeve Binchy. The series of linked short stories were full of mostly likable characters. The characters come together for the opening week of a Bed & Breakfast on the west coast of Ireland. There’s a pleasant cozy atmosphere despite a long list of differing traumas and life challenges that each character brings with them to the inn. It was easy listening and while I enjoyed it, I’m unlikely to retain many of the details.

Another lovely novel by Maeve Binchy. Like previous works, we meet a group of people from varied backgrounds that all come together in a lovely Irish place. Because Binchy's novels tend to end on a heartwarming note, I always forget that many of her characters experience traumatic losses and lonely lives before the pleasant ending. She certainly doesn't sugarcoat anything in this one.

I'm sad that this is the last new Binchy novel, she's one of the few novelists that I've read everything and never got bored with her stories.

Like most of Maeve Binchy's books, this one was comfortable and mostly sweet and satisfying. However, as I approached the end, I saw how few pages were left and kept saying to myself, "No - don't let it end with THIS!" The ending felt a bit abrupt and incomplete. The story involves the individual storylines of several people who come to say at an inn. Some of these stories were better than others, and the book generally went downhill as it went on.