Inside Scoop: The Final Maeve Binchy Novel

A Week in Winter is Maeve Binchy’s latest novel. Sadly, she passed away last July, weeks before this title was published. It is classic Binchy, and a fitting capstone to her legacy of wonderful titles. Each chapter shares the background and history of one of the characters. They all converge for a week’s stay at Stone House, a mansion high on the cliffs above the sea in Stoneybridge, Ireland. The mansion has been converted into a comfortable, homey, relaxing, hotel. Binchy weaves the threads of their lives together with the warmth and humor that are her trademarks. The cast of characters includes the owner of the hotel and the staff that she has assembled including a bad boy turned good, his wife and kids, and her niece who is a whiz at business.
Most of the guests are likeable characters with stories that folks can relate to. One particularly unlikeable guest criticizes everything and never has a good word to say to anyone. It was upsetting for me to witness how she relates to the world and especially the characters at Stone House. I was not sorry to see her leave, but had hopes that the magic of Stone House would transform her. Sadly she remains nasty to her exit from the book.
As usual, Binchy does mention characters and settings from her previous books. I view her body of work as one long chronicle of Ireland that goes from one set of stories to the next, always with a thread to connect them. Some of my favorite Maeve Binchy titles are: Circle of Friends, The Copper Beech, Evening Class, Tara Road, Scarlet Feather and Quentins.           –Rita