Maeve Binchy’s final book “A Week in Winter” published posthumously shows her at the height of her powers

Cahir O'Doherty reviews Maeve Binchy's last work

Endless curiosity about people and a generous enjoyment of human nature are the hallmarks of Maeve Binchy’s life and work. Sadly she passed away last July, but she’s left us with A Week in Winter,  the spell-binding final novel that shows her at the height of her powers. Cahir O'Doherty considers the life and work of the unmatchable Irish author.

If you’ve ever spent a week in an Irish guesthouse in the company of a cast of characters that Agatha Christie herself might have hand picked (and who hasn’t?) then you’re going to love Maeve Binchy’s final novel. 

Few writers knew Ireland or the Irish better than she did, frankly. It’s why she became an international bestselling author, and it’s why other more critically celebrated Irish authors loved her too. 

In particular, Binchy had a real gift for uncovering the passions, hopes and private hurts of her instantly recognizable Irish characters, and then making you care about their fates. That takes real skill. 

Her final novel, A Week in Winter, is easily as strong as the other 19 books that made her reputation, and there's a special poignancy in knowing this one is her last. 

But there's consolation in knowing that wrote the book at the height of her powers and that it's the best possible tribute to her long and successful career. 

Set in a small fictional Irish coastal town of Stoneybridge where everyone knows each other, in A Week In Winter Binchy, who passed away last July aged 72, introduces us to an enterprising young woman named Chicky who has just realized her lifelong dream, to take over a decaying Stone House mansion and turn it into a going concern. 

The locals think she’s crazy. Who’d holiday in a guesthouse in this godforsaken backwater, they demand? 

But before the paint is even dry on the walls the first guests are arriving. They include John, an American movie star who thinks no one recognizes him because the Irish refuse to invade his privacy or make a big fuss.

We also meet Nicola and Henry, husband and wife, both doctors, who find themselves spiritually shaken up, by having witnessed far too much death. Unsurprisingly, they’re looking for a little rehabilitation themselves, and at Stone House they have certainly come to the right spot.

Then comes Miss Nell Howe, a retired schoolteacher who finds she must criticize everything and everyone she encounters. Miss Howe, we discover, is the sort of woman who makes flowers wither as she passes. 

Severe and cold, she’s actually toxic to the hopes and dreams of the people around her. From the moment she appears you begin to ache for her comeuppance. 

Next up is Lillian and Winnie, a mother and would-be daughter-in-law who have been forced into taking a short holiday together, with all the tension and awkwardness that implies. 

Binchy doesn’t spare us the embarrassment or anger that eventually erupts between them, and her you-are-there portrait of two decent but very different women attempting to make peace is one of the highlights of the book.

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Nster.com