Fiction Book Review: A Week In Winter By Maeve Binchy
It all begins in Stoneybridge, a village in the west coast of Ireland.
A beautiful story is told of a young lady, warm and talented, Chicky Ryan.
She fell head over hills in love with an American, Walter Starr, who convinces her to leave her home town, Stoneybridge, and move with him to New York, with the "Live Happily Ever After" Promise.
Chicky did oblige and left for New York with her hubby, against the wish of her parents.
As you may have guessed, things didn't turn out as she hoped as Walter moved on and she was left alone.
Chicky kept visiting home from time to time and told fabricated stories of her union with Walter and ultimately his demise in an auto crash.
Don't let the last line make you think less of her; she really is warm at heart.
After a while she decides to return home for good.
Upon her return, some twenty years after she had earlier left with Walter, she bought an old mansion overlooking the ocean from Ms Queenie, who happens to be the last of the three Sheedy sisters.
Her plan is to refurbish this old house she has always loved and turn it into a hotel, the 'Stone House'.
To help her achieve her dreams, chicky enlists the help of her niece, Orla and Rigger, a teenager who was disgracefully sent away from Dublin.
Separate chapters in the book focus on the lives of these characters.
The book, A Week in winter, is basically a collection of several short fascinating stories, about the lives and times of people in connection with the Stone House, amongst whom were, an actor, a couple of doctors hoping to recover from the events they had witnessed, a Swede, a Liberian, a young lady and her would be mother in-law etc Each story gives an account of the lives of these different characters prior to their stay in the stone House, why they chose to stay and how the experience affected their lives.
They are all very interesting characters that you would enjoy reading about.
This is the first book by Maeve Binchy that I have come across and it is really sad to know that it is the last book that may be published with her as the author; she was a fantastic story teller.
She past on in May 2012 and was in her seventies.
Being the first of her books that I have come across, I can't really give a honest comparism between this book and her previous titles, but I must say I wasn't disappointed.
Instead I am on the look out for her prior books.
One of the qualities I like about 'A Week in Winter' is the warmth and affection that flowed in the Stone House and how there always seemed to be a solution to the problems of the people, however complicated it may seem, who showed up there.
Even though I think some of the characters portrayed in the book were not as detailed as I would have loved.
It really is a great book, get yourself a copy and you will enjoy every line written by Maeve Binchy.
A beautiful story is told of a young lady, warm and talented, Chicky Ryan.
She fell head over hills in love with an American, Walter Starr, who convinces her to leave her home town, Stoneybridge, and move with him to New York, with the "Live Happily Ever After" Promise.
Chicky did oblige and left for New York with her hubby, against the wish of her parents.
As you may have guessed, things didn't turn out as she hoped as Walter moved on and she was left alone.
Chicky kept visiting home from time to time and told fabricated stories of her union with Walter and ultimately his demise in an auto crash.
Don't let the last line make you think less of her; she really is warm at heart.
After a while she decides to return home for good.
Upon her return, some twenty years after she had earlier left with Walter, she bought an old mansion overlooking the ocean from Ms Queenie, who happens to be the last of the three Sheedy sisters.
Her plan is to refurbish this old house she has always loved and turn it into a hotel, the 'Stone House'.
To help her achieve her dreams, chicky enlists the help of her niece, Orla and Rigger, a teenager who was disgracefully sent away from Dublin.
Separate chapters in the book focus on the lives of these characters.
The book, A Week in winter, is basically a collection of several short fascinating stories, about the lives and times of people in connection with the Stone House, amongst whom were, an actor, a couple of doctors hoping to recover from the events they had witnessed, a Swede, a Liberian, a young lady and her would be mother in-law etc Each story gives an account of the lives of these different characters prior to their stay in the stone House, why they chose to stay and how the experience affected their lives.
They are all very interesting characters that you would enjoy reading about.
This is the first book by Maeve Binchy that I have come across and it is really sad to know that it is the last book that may be published with her as the author; she was a fantastic story teller.
She past on in May 2012 and was in her seventies.
Being the first of her books that I have come across, I can't really give a honest comparism between this book and her previous titles, but I must say I wasn't disappointed.
Instead I am on the look out for her prior books.
One of the qualities I like about 'A Week in Winter' is the warmth and affection that flowed in the Stone House and how there always seemed to be a solution to the problems of the people, however complicated it may seem, who showed up there.
Even though I think some of the characters portrayed in the book were not as detailed as I would have loved.
It really is a great book, get yourself a copy and you will enjoy every line written by Maeve Binchy.