A Week in Winter

By Maeve Binchy

Book Overview

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the acclaimed author of Circle of Friends - In a small town on the west coast of Ireland, an unlikely cast of characters come together at a newly opened inn. This "delightful novel that] radiates the warmth and charm that fans will recognize and cherish" (USA Today).

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 schoolteacher, 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.

Sharing a week with these characters is pure joy, full of Maeve's trademark warmth and humor. Once again, she embraces us with her grand storytelling.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0307475506
• ISBN13: 9780307475503
• Release Date: January 2014
• Publisher: Vintage
• Length: 416 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

Wonderful Book

This book is like a warm hug. It takes place at an inn for the first week's opening, and you get the background on all of the guests so you feel that you know them. Maeve writes so descriptively and with such insights into people, that you will regretfully say goodbye to new friends when you finish reading the book. Prepare to be transported to Ireland for a week in winter.