A Week in Winter

Image of A Week in Winter
Author(s): 
Release Date: 
January 28, 2013
Publisher/Imprint: 
Knopf
Pages: 
336
Reviewed by: 

“It would have been lovely to see what Maeve Binchy would have done with A Week in Winter had she lived to complete it herself.”

In A Week in Winter Maeve Binchy once again leads us on her own personal tour of Ireland, this time setting her story in the hamlet of Stonybridge. Located on the storm-swept western coast of Ireland, the village is the home of the nominal leading character, Chicky Starr.

After many years living in New York City Chicky Starr has purchased a decaying manse in Stonybridge, intending to renovate it for use as a vacation retreat. Through the eyes of a shifting cast of characters, the story of that renovation and the ensuing first week of operation of the new hotel is revealed.

There is an exchange early on in the story, between Chicky and the elderly woman from whom she is buying the house, which sets the tone of the novel:

“A hotel? Really? Run a hotel?”
“You’d make it special, a place for people like you.”
“There is no one like me, no one as odd and complicated.”
“You’d be surprised, Chicky. There are lots of them.”

Ms. Binchy presents a large cast of characters in A Week in Winter and manages them with mixed results. Indeed, there are many odd, complicated characters in this story. Among them are a bad boy trying to be good, two women in a struggle over loving the same man, a couple bereaved, a disaffected spinster, a man caught between duty and desire, and another hiding out from a life that no longer works for him. They, along with other characters, are people at crossroads in their lives. As varied as their issues might be they nearly all manage to find their peace during their week at Stone House.

This novel is very different from her former books in that there is not a smooth narrative arc from beginning to end. Instead of a unified story, A Week in Winter is written almost as a series of short stories, each focusing on the backstory of one character or team of characters, leading up to the point at which they arrive at Stone House and reach their Aha! moment.

As such, some stories work better than others. The story of the bereaved couple, Henry and Nicola, is one of the weakest arcs. Neither character is drawn well enough to elicit the sympathy of the reader; their “crisis” seems artificial, and the resolution is clichéd. The chapter is saddled by heavy-handed dialogue, melodrama, and schmaltz.

In contrast is the story of Anders, a Swede torn between the family expectation that he will lead his father’s accountancy firm and his own desire to be a musician. This story is poignant without being gushy, and it’s believable.

The rest of the stories fall somewhere in between these extremes.

Each chapter benefits from Ms. Binchy’s trademark warmth and wit. It’s easy to feel at home in Stone House; she’s described the setting so well that it seems it exists.

The uneven nature of the chapters, though, makes it a difficult story in which to relax. The publisher’s website states that Ms. Binchy was getting to work with her editors just at the point of her death; and this is easy to believe. Characters are sketched rather than fleshed out, point of view in some scenes and chapters is wildly uneven, and the ending is disappointing.

Still, Ms. Binchy’s love for her country and her sympathy for the problems people face in realizing where they belong in life shine through as a leitmotif for all of her books, and along with her distinctive writer’s voice, make A Week in Winter a decent read.

It would have been lovely to see what Maeve Binchy would have done with A Week in Winter had she lived to complete it herself.