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A Week in Winter: A Novel
Unavailable
A Week in Winter: A Novel
Unavailable
A Week in Winter: A Novel
Audiobook10 hours

A Week in Winter: A Novel

Written by Maeve Binchy

Narrated by Rosalyn Landor

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4/5

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Currently unavailable

Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

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 this unlikely cast of characters is pure joy, full of Maeve's trademark warmth and humor. Once again, she embraces us with her grand storytelling.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateFeb 12, 2013
ISBN9780307713698
Unavailable
A Week in Winter: A Novel

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Reviews for A Week in Winter

Rating: 3.754620138603696 out of 5 stars
4/5

487 ratings68 reviews

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  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    This was the first book I'd ever ready by Maeve Binchy and it won't be the last! I picked it up on a whim from my library and thoroughly enjoyed being led into this uplifting story. If this is the tone of her works, I can see them becoming lovely comfort-reads :)
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    great book with well developed characters
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Easy listen - a B&B's opening week brings in the most interesting characters. Chicki Star Comes Home.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Squee!!! I adore this book! I have got to read more from Ms Binchy.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Binchy writes in a comfortable style, weaving a homey tale about running a back-country Inn in Ireland. I enjoyed the personality developments and the interconnection of the characters. Binchy is very adept at incorporating the backstory without being tedious.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I hadn't read anything from Binchy in awhile. She is such a wonderful storyteller and is sorely missed.Chicky Starr is from Ireland and wants to see the world. She travels with a nice gentleman to New York. When their romance fades away, she travels back to Ireland and opens a Bread & Breakfast establishment which is one of the oldest mansions in Stoneybridge.After many months of getting the house ready, she opens the bed and breakfast and welcomes her first guests during the winter season. Her first guests during her first week of business are quirky but still welcomes them all.It's such a delightful book. I would love to be one of her guests but, alas, it will have to be in my mind.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    In this, Binchy's last novel before her death, it focuses on Chicky Starr, who left Stoneybridge, Ireland twenty-years-ago with a dashing American who leaves her eight months later. Her family disowns her and rather than admit that they were right, she tells them they got married. She soon starts to work at an Irish boarding house and after five years of being away, she goes back to visit, telling them that her husband is "too busy" to come with her. After a while, she "kills" him off in an accident. After twenty years of being in America, she decides to help the last Miss Sheedy old maid in her rambling house by buying the house and having Miss Sheedy help her redecorate it and turn it into a special B and B. Her old childhood best friend's reform school son, is sent there to hopefully turn his life around, and soon, Rigger, finds himself manager of the place and a different man, even though he can't reach his mother, who goes into a depression, blaming herself for what happened to him. This fabulous novel focuses on the lives of those who come to stay at Stone House for the first week. There's an Irish nurse, who gets stuck going on this vacation with the dragon lady mother of her boyfriend, whom she hopes to marry. He, however is a bit of a mama's boy, and his mother has managed, all these years to keep him from getting married. Will this trip bring them together or drive them further apart?Anther guest is the famous American actor, Cory Salinas, who is trying to find out what to do with his life. Henry and Nicola, British doctors have seen death close up twice and have come away jarred. They have also been trying for a number of years to get pregnant and have pretty much given up. They hope this seaside house will give them the rest they need to go on with their lives.Anders, an accountant, is supposed to join his father's prestigious firm in Sweden, but he has fallen in love with Erika, who lives in Stockholm and refuses to leave her promising career there to move back to his hometown, to a job that he hates. He'd rather play music, but feels obligated to his father. This trip is an escape from the dreary life of his job. The Walls, won the trip from a contest. They are contest junkies and had hoped for first place, an expensive trip to Paris, for their twenty-fifth anniversary. Needless to say, they are disappointed at where they find themselves instead.Miss Nell Howe is a severe, now retired, headmistress of a school, who has no friends and treats everyone horribly. The parents and staff feel they ought to get her something for her service, so they get her this vacation, which she hates. But there's more to her than meets the eye. Freda the librarian, has given up on love, until a charming man comes into her life, a man "to good to be true", who just might break her heart. She goes to Stone House to find her way back again.I didn't want this book to end, which says a lot. This is my first Binchy book and now I can't wait to read more of her books. I wanted to hear more of Chicky's life and the other workers of Stone House after the guests of the first week left. I can't say enough good things about this fabulous book that looks intimately into the lives of the fascinating guests that you mostly come to love (some you just can't no matter what). I highly recommend this book to anyone and everyone.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Loved it!!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Easy read....LCG Hillside Library
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A group of troubled people, book a week away in a bed and breakfast on the coast of Ireland where they find comfort and come to terms with their problems.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is really a group of short stories linked together by the hotel that the characters stay in, yet it still feels like one overall story. It's a gentle tale showing how a chance to unwind in a new (and beautiful) place can give people a chance to reassess their lives. Some find love, some recover from losing love. Some find a new way forwards in their lives and one, sadly, is unable to break the habits of a lifetime.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I have always loved novels by Maeve Binchy. It was sad to realize this is the last novel written prior to her death in 2012. Thankfully I have not yet read all of her previous novels so I still have some of her treasures ahead.I am not sure why but I didn't realize the style of this novel right away and so mid-stream began to be a little disappointed as I wanted to hear more about Chicky Starr. I kept reading and then I realized the style of the novel that I had missed and once again became captivated in the story. With turn of the last page, it is without doubt, beautifully Maeve Binchy, and not to be missed!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I love escaping into one of Binchy's gentle, lovely books. I will miss her.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Being Maeve Binchy's last book before her death, I had to take the time to read this. What a lovely offering, full of stories about people and how they came to be spending a week at Stone House in Ireland.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    I really enjoyed this book. Fantastic character development, and a solid story that tied everything and everyone together. Plus it doesn’t have gratuitous sex and swear words to compensate for a lack of storytelling.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Sometimes, after reading something disturbing, you want to be immersed in the cozy, benevolent Ireland created by Maeve Binchy. This was her last book — probably not her best, but still a welcome antidote to thoughtlessness, outrage, cruelty, and disgust.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Very good book--I think was the last book she wrote before her death so the format is a bit different.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Sad that this is the last book from Maeve Binchy. Love her style and her characters.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    Frankly, I was somewhat confused by this book. There was a different chapter for each of the people working in Stonehouse, and a chapter for each of the people who visited it inn its first week open. No one's stories had entirely satisfying ends. The author tried to fix this by having Freda predict for them exactly what they wanted to hear. Miss Nell Howe's chapter was particularly confusing. Told partly from the point of view of Rigger's uncle's future wife, Irene. It was revealed that Irene's nephew was actually her son, and he'd figured this out when he was nine, but never asked Irene about why she hadn't told him until she chose to reveal it to him. The rest of the chapter was from Chicky's point of view, and we found out why Miss Howe was so unpleasant, but she left before the end of the book, so we didn't even get the false sense of completion we got for the other characters. Rigger was my favorite character, he was the most interesting, and the one who straightened his life out the best, but after his chapter he was barely in the book.

    I did enjoy most of the book, and the characters, but I was also frustrated by their morality. Many of them slept around, and Chickie lied for a great deal of her life, a situation that was never resolved, as she never told any of her family the truth. Freda's psychic powers were confusing, and abruptly introduced, when there had been no indication of magic or voodoo anywhere else in the book.

    it wasn't a bad book, but it really wasn't a good book either.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I have always loved novels by Maeve Binchy. It was sad to realize this is the last novel written prior to her death in 2012. Thankfully I have not yet read all of her previous novels so I still have some of her treasures ahead.I am not sure why but I didn't realize the style of this novel right away and so mid-stream began to be a little disappointed as I wanted to hear more about Chicky Starr. I kept reading and then I realized the style of the novel that I had missed and once again became captivated in the story. With turn of the last page, it is without doubt, beautifully Maeve Binchy, and not to be missed!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    lots of fun to listen to.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Being Maeve Binchy's last book before her death, I had to take the time to read this. What a lovely offering, full of stories about people and how they came to be spending a week at Stone House in Ireland.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is Maeve Binchy's last book. It is different in the fact that the setting is created in an old home/hotel and then the rest of the story is about all the characters who are at this hotel in its first week. Great descriptions of Ireland. She really creates a picture in your mind.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This book is a warm story of the people who run and visit Stone House on the Atlantic in Ireland. Chicky has come home to Ireland from her years in New York. She takes over an old, stately house overlooking the ocean and makes a wonderfully restorative bed and breakfast type of vacation place out of it. By switching from the first week of operation and backward to each character's tale of how they came to Stone House, Binchy writes what could be many well told short stories connected to each other by their week under Chicky's gracious care. All of the stories are richly interesting and fully fleshed out.Sadly, this has been Maeve Binchy's last book. She died at the age of 72 shortly after finishing A Week in Winter. Happily her skill and gift of constructing warm, caring communities of people did not lessen before her death in 2012.Even if you have not read any of Ms Binchy's other tales, be sure to read this one for the gentle weaving of people's lives in an Irish rural setting. If you have enjoyed any of Binchy's other books, this one will not disappoint you.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Binchy's last novel is a pleasant enough read, but nothing special. Like others of her later books, it's a novel in stories, slices of the lives of people who interact at a country house hotel in the west of Ireland. It doesn't build to any conclusions or contain any great insights or real resolution.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Good summer reading. Chickey inherits an old house that she renovates into a hotel. The story is background and development of her first guests. A Pleasant entertainment.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is a warm and fuzzy, "comfort food" kind of read. It's about an Irish woman, nicknamed "Chicky", who returns to Ireland after many years living in the US and opens a small boutique hotel. The book is essentially about how she gets it going and then tells us the stories of the people who come to stay for the first week. Each chapter deals with a different character and it's really a series of short, interconnected but distinct stories. The people who come to stay are all at crossroads in their lives or are dealing with issues that they feel confused about, and the break away from everyday life in most cases makes a significant difference to them.It's a very pleasant and undemanding read but ultimately doesn't amount to a lot - no one character is more important than any other and none of the stories really stand out in any way. If anything, the final couple of chapters are the least involving. I did wish that the ending had pulled the disparate threads together more, or that perhaps it had jumped ahead to the reunion that the group talked about having at some stage down the track, to tell us whether things panned out for each character in the way that they anticipated. But having said that, it does have its own charm and it would be the perfect book to take on a holiday.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I am clearly in a nostalgic mood - this is another old favorite author! Maeve Binchy is one of my very favorite!!! Her books are filled with the day to day life of everyday people. Her writing elevates their lives to simple poetry. I know - that sounds a little ridiculously flowery - but she brings it out in me!This book did not disappoint! Chicky Starr is content to live her life out in the small Irish community of Stonybridge until a smiling yank sweeps her off her feet and carries her across the ocean to New York City. When that romance fades she can not tell her family what has happened - so she remains in New York creating a story of her life. Over the years she settles in a boarding house and learns the trade and perfects her story - returning home now and again but maintaining the facade. When her favorite niece is ready to come to NY to see the glamorous life her aunt is leading Chicky makes a fateful decision - her husband is suddenly killed in a car accident and she decides to return home. But - what will she do? Refurbish an old genteel house on the coast and turn it in to a small hotel.And that is where the story begins. Sort of. Binchy has a great way of layering different perspectives on top on one another. As Chicky's story ends it is time to tell Rigger's story - the wayward son of Chicky's best friend. And this story takes us a bit closer to the week in winter when Stone House will open. Then it is Orla, Chicky's favorite niece's story. And finally it is the stories of the guests who arrive that very first week in winter. Each arriving with their own lives of passion and boredom and intrigue and quiet. Each a bit apprehensive, a bit concerned, a bit frazzled, and a bit overwhelmed at the healing sounds the ocean waves create. Not all the stories end happily - or even end. Rather this feels like we have all been invited on a memorable week vacation - and it is time for us to pick up our own lives again.I LOVE Binchy!!! Read this one!!
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    A group of troubled people, book a week away in a bed and breakfast on the coast of Ireland where they find comfort and come to terms with their problems.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Read for a group - I believe it's my first Binchy but probably won't be my last. I do love character-driven stories... but this took that about as far as it could go, as there's hardly anything besides character vignettes.

    But that's ok. These are good people, doing their best to make their own way, and to share joy with neighbors and friends new & old, against the kinds of ordinary challenges we all face. Not a werewolf, BEM, murderer, or pedophile in sight - thank you M. Binchy.