This fluctuates between heartwarming and trashy. A group of loosely connected people wind up together at an estate house in some small Highland town, where they make friends and heal their wounded souls, all in time for Christmas. Parts of it are very sweet, and I’m yearning now to spend a Christmas in the snowy north of Scotland, but the author’s lack of moral clarity was so off-putting that it spoiled the book. It’s as though she couldn’t possibly be so judgmental as to condemn the stupid choices (like adultery and drunk driving) that cause much of the misery in the book. One of the characters is suffering a broken heart because her married lover wouldn’t abandon his wife and children to be with her, so obviously what she needs is to find a handsome man who’s heartbroken because his wife was unfaithful . . . right? They’d make a perfect pair! After all, she’s beautiful, he’s rich, and they’re both sad. The solutions to everyone else’s problems are almost as pat (though not so ridiculous), and the prose occasionally reads like a bad script for a “WE” television drama. “He ran after her, caught her by the shoulders, and turned her around to face him. He tilted her chin up and removed her sunglasses to reveal eyes sparkling with tears” or some such drivel. I mean, really — have you ever had someone turn you around by the shoulders? How would that even work with normal length arms?? Not all of it is that bad, but it’s still a waste of a great setting and some really charming characters, a few of whom I’d come to care about in spite of the mediocre writing.
Elfrida Phipps, once a famous actress on the London stage, retires at age 62 and moves to the sleepy Hampshire village of Dibton. She never anticipates going off with a man. But after a devastating tragedy, her first friend from when she arrived in Dibton, Oscar Blundell - the church organist - asks her for companionship. So, with her brown-and-white dog in tow, Elfrida begins her journey.What she doesn't realize is that also joining her and Oscar in the rundown Victorian mansion in Scotland, will be Carrie, a young woman with a broken heart recently returned from Australia after ending her affair with a married man. Joining her will be her young teenage cousin Lucy, who Carrie has agreed to look after, when she discovers that her mother and aunt are constantly squabbling. Sam Howard is an American whose wife leaves him for another man. He is a man without a home and without roots, so when his job sends him to Scotland, he jumps at the chance to go.He falls in love with the lush, craggy landscape and sets his sights on a house. These five very different people - Sam, Carrie, Lucy, Elfrida and Oscar - will form firm friendships that will change all their lives forever. I really enjoyed this book. It was a first time read for me - the writing was beautiful and it flowed along nicely for me. I give it an A+!
What do You think about Winter Solstice (2011)?
I think I appreciate this book even a little bit more on rereading. Its plot works out very neatly, perhaps too neatly for some readers, but a plot free of contrivance is not Pilcher's strength. Her greatest strengths are (a) close observation of the little details of daily life that make it so precious, and (b) a warm-hearted faith in people's latent capacity to care for each other. And she writes very ringing dialogue! I cover the pages with underlines and little stars and exclamations because she knows how to make her characters talk and sound like themselves. The Shell Seekers is Pilcher's biggest hit, but I think this one is my favorite.
—Lucy Pollard-Gott
My words are inadequate in describing what a beautiful story this book represents! This book is just perfect for the Christmas season and it is set in Scotland. And even if you don't agree with all of the characters' actions, the story, as a whole, is about grieving and healing, hope, forgiveness, faith, beauty, and the power of love and friendship. The characters are represented very realistically and it is almost as if you were part of the story itself, and in some ways, I wish I was. I highly, highly recommend it.
—Chelsea
I really enjoyed this book by an author I've never read before. It was set in London, England and Scotland. I learned that good things happen to people even after they retire, or lose loved ones, there are people who need people of all ages and situations, everywhere. Very well written. I would read another of her books. Here's a couple of quotes I liked:pg 154: "He had always despised self-pity, and now, sitting huddled in the small wooden shelter, he fought it like a lion, striving to be positive, to count present blessings. Her companionship had saved his reason, and in her own uncomplicated way she had got him through the blackest times, comforting by simply accepting his limitations. When he fell silent, she left him alone. When he felt compelled to talk, she listened. I must go on he told himself, move forward, a step at a time. But at 67, with most of his life behind him, it sometimes seemed impossible to summon the energy. That deadening blanket, compounded of shock and terrible loss, had not only blinded and deafened him, but imbued every bone in his body with a dreadful and pervasive fatigue."pg 221: "I want to move on, to go on living, to be able to accept; to be able to give again. I don't like taking all the time. I've never been that sort of person."
—Pam
