Amazon.com Review
Over the objections of her spiteful daughter-in-law and despite her own sentimental misgivings, the sharp-witted, tweed-wearing widow Maudie Todhunter is selling the remote Cornish farmhouse left to her by her husband, Patrick. In
A Week in Winter, her first book to be published in the U.S., British author Marcia Willett explores the competing claims of love, memory, and duty. Maudie knows that her beloved granddaughter Posy would have liked to inherit Moorgate. But she is surprised to learn who else wants the old house and what secrets unfold as she puts Moorgate on the market. What makes
A Week in Winter a "women's" novel (and may narrow its appeal) is its slow development--nothing is rushed here--and a tendency to linger in the moment, savoring emotional nuances and fine points of plot and character. At best, this makes the novel a smooth and leisurely read, but it can also bring the action to a crawl. To compensate, Willett provides some mysterious clues that lend a Gothic aura to an otherwise straightforward tale of giving up a much-prized object in the hope that something better will arrive.
--Regina Marler
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
When a publisher declares that it is attempting to replicate the success of Rosamunde Pilcher, it becomes fair game, requiring readers to assess the accuracy of such a claim. The Shell Seekers was Pilcher's blockbuster American debut, following the mild success of a string of slight, light romances in her native England. Similar backstory and hopes follow Willett, whose saga revolves around a matriarch and a house. Now in her 70s and widowed, Maudie Todhunter decides to sell Moorgate, the family farmhouse in Cornwall. Opposing her is stepdaughter Selina, who has never forgiven Maudie for marrying her father after the death of her beloved mother 30 years earlier. Two romantic subplots and a few family secrets waiting to come out can't save this thin, treacly fare, in which even the lone antagonist eventually develops a heart. Though Maudie herself is appealing, she simply isn't an intriguing enough heroine to center a novel on, since most of her time is spent obsessing about the past and talking to her dog. Willett is no Pilcher and her American debut is no Shell Seekers, but if the publisher is correct in assuming that in these troubled times readers are in the mood to curl up with the literary equivalent of a hot-water bottle, this title should satisfy its target market.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
