A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy has been sitting on my shelf for a while. There just never seemed the time to read it until this week! What a lovely novel. For me, it had all the lovely components for a wonderful read: quirky characters, history/knowledge of the characters, curiosity factors and wonderful levels of humanity.
Chicky Starr has taken on a mansion on the cliff in Stoneybridge. The mansion had been owned by three sisters and needed loads of work and attention to bring the place up to a proper standard for an inn. The novel traces Chickey’s path to the mansion and fixing the mansion, but it also contains the story of each of the main characters who work with Chicky. Each character has a past that could be tragic but has found their way out of that by hard work and second chances. Once the inn opens the first week of renters who come to stay at Stoneybridge also are introduced with their backstory and how the week has been for them. The novel ends up in a delightful way letting us know about what happens for most of the characters and suggests that their week has helped them with a major life change.
I do not remember why it took so long to read this novel, but I am so glad I did. The characters and the setting were so wonderful. The excellent solutions of the novel were spot on. I loved the book without reservation. (and stayed up late to finish it!) A Week in Winter by Maeve Binchy was a wonderful read!!
