A magnificent house at the gates of the moor, that is as beautiful and penetrating as any character in this book. Marcia Willett is a new author for me. Popular in the United Kingdom it has been a joy to find this book in the USA. Reminiscent of a Rosamunde Pilcher novel, owing to the simple comfort brought to the reader who picks this book up. The characters have the breath of life in them, and wind themselves around the heart of the reader where they stay long after.Maudie has come to a point that she must sell Moorgate, as much as it will dampen her spirit to let it go, she must. The man that she has hired to refurbish the old house has fallen in love with it after putting his heart and soul into the work he has done, it is almost to much to bear to see it go to a stranger. One perfect week in winter will change the course of the future for all involved as well as the beautiful lady called "Moorgate".
This is only the beginning of a wonderfully told tale about love, life, secrets and the relationships that sustain and very possibly degrade. It is a superbly written work of fiction that will comfort and seize the attention of anyone lucky enough to come across it...
Marcia is not Rosamunde, but close enough to make one sigh with contentment.Long a popular writer in her native UK, Marcia Willett has not been available to us in the United States before this wonderful book. As the Brits would say: Why ever not? This is simply a lovely, wonderful book, the type you pick up and instantly find yourself involved--in this case, by "walking into" an agreeable farmhouse in Cornwall on almost the very first page. But beware: "A Week in Winter" is so perfect for wallowing, that you may find yourself forgetting to get off the commuter train (as I did), or reading right past an important appointment (as I almost did).
The plot opens in the kitchen of Maudie Todhunter, a no-nonsense widow who is eating her egg and opening her mail. As we read her mail with her, we are drawn immediately and totally into her world. Her beloved late husband, Hector, had been married once before, to the saintly and perfect Hilda, who died before Hector met Maudie. The children from that marriage, all grown, have largely scattered, leaving one daughter, the embittered and nasty Selena, still in London--and still loathing "mummys replacement" after all these years.
Selena, too, has children, and one of them, Posy, has formed a strong and lifelong attachment to Maudie, whom she calls "Babe" and regards as her grandmother. Posy stops by Maudies farmhouse to deliver her dog, Polonius, a giant mastiff who is forbidden to enter Selenas perfect house. And no wonder. Polonius has a mind of his own, as Maudie, who has secretly fallen in love with him, soon finds out. (Like so many British writers, Willett treats Polonius as a character in his own right, and we get many insights into his tricky doggy mind!)
Of course the intertwining of characters, simply living their outwardly ordinary lives, becomes anything but ordinary. We get to know Posy very quickly, and to love her; we learn about Maudie and her secret heartbreaks, Selena and her impossible demands, Selenas long-suffering husband Patrick and his secrets, and wonderful Rob, the bachelor estate agent for Moorgate, a huge estate right on the edge of the moor that Maudie must now sell.
It is around Moorgate that many spells are wound, hearts are broken and mended, and the reader is simply and irrevocably enchanted.
What can I say. I adored this book. Anybody who loves Rosamund Pilcher, Maeve Binchy and the like will be sure to enjoy it too. But make no mistake--Marcia Willett is no imitator. She is a strong and wonderful writer and I cannot wait to read the next book, just released in the U.S., "A Summer in the Country." I have a feeling it will get this reader through some cold winter months with complete joy.
Cozy English Relationship Drama Satisfying As A Cup of Tea