A Week in Winter

This less-than-thrilling final work (after Minding Frankie) in the late Irish novelist%E2%80%99s prolific oeuvre tells the life stories of a cast of characters that show up for a week%E2%80%99s stay at a bed and breakfast called Stone House. The house is located in the idyllic village of Stoneybridge on western Ireland%E2%80%99s "wet and wild and lonely" Atlantic coast. Binchy begins with the hotel%E2%80%99s founder and proprietor, Chicky Starr, whose life hasn%E2%80%99t turned out the way she%E2%80%99d hoped. Several disparate narratives overlap and intermingle in various ways, as the reader views the characters%E2%80%94%E2%80%94who each receive their own chapter%E2%80%94%E2%80%94from the others%E2%80%99 perspectives. Binchy encapsulates the lives of her characters with such authority and so completely that there is little room for mystery or urgency. The reader gets the sense that all of the intrigue has been removed from the characters%E2%80%99 unique yet matter-of-fact lives. The novel, however, is welcome territory for those looking for a feel-good read, and as Binchy writes, no matter how awry their lives seem to go, "It was all going to be fine." (Feb.)