A Week in Winter

This book was like a breath of fresh air...very Maeve Binchy and Rosemund Pilcher in feel...with characters who you fall in love with. Heartbreaking and hopeful...a book I would recommend to anyone who will listen.

Marcia Willett is no imitator. Her writing can be compared to Pilcher and Binchy as noted, and what a wonderful compliment...i.e., the descriptive writing and attention to detail so that the characters have the breath of life in them. They wound themselves around the heart of this enchanted reader. The descriptions of Cornwall were so clear that I was transported. The intertwining of characters, simply living their (not so) ordinary lives, becomes anything but ordinary. The main character, Maudie Todhunter, is delightful as is her step-granddaughter Posey. Posey's Mother, Selena was impossibly frightful and Ms.Willett weaves a wonderful tale of family strengths, weaknesses, falling in love (with a few mysteries thrown in) through them. I particularly loved Polonius, the dog. I have her "A Summer In The Country" and eagerly begin another anticipated delight! Thank you Marcia Willett!

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 "mummy's 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 Maudie's farmhouse to deliver her dog, Polonius, a giant mastiff who is forbidden to enter Selena's 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, Selena's 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.

This is a truly wonderful summer read. I started this yesterday and didn't ever want it to end. The book is about Maudie who has to make a decision regarding a cornish farmhouse that has been in the family for years. Maudie came into this family as a step-mother and knows that once again with this decicision she will not be thought of kindly by her step-daughter Selina. Selina has always felt that Maudie was her worst enemy even though Selina's daughter has always found her to be a great friend. But with guidance from Posey her grand-daughter and one of the great characters of the book, Polonius, an english mastiff that becomes Maudie's best companion, the trip to the end of this book is a great read. Secrets are unveiled and guilt is finally put to rest by several of the characters. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the author not only reminds me of Pilcher but another great, Maeve Binchey. Anyone who picks this up will not be disappointed. Will be looking forward to more books by Marcia Willett.

Marcia Willett does indeed, as promised, follow in the wonderful footsteps of Rosamunde Pilcher. The same descriptive writing where atmosphere and details set the mood, the same unforgettable characters, the same heart-wrenching stories, even the sad-eyed dog Polonious is reminiscent of Horace in Pilcher's WINTER SOLSTICE. But Marcia Willett is more than a copy. She is a wonderful new voice now being published for the first time in the USA. A WEEK IN WINTER is truly a book to curl up with in your favorite deeply-cushioned chair while keeping your tea and chocolate close at hand.Maudie Todhunter is the elderly protagonist and her story of life newly-widowed is told while two subplots of young love interweave with her story. The novel focuses on a wonderful English farmhouse called Moorgate which stands at the entrance to the English moors. What transpires in that house during one very special week sends ripples through the lives of a host of richly textured characters. From Maudie's granddaughter Posy, the house renovator Rob Abbott, the desperately ill Melissa and her brother Mike, to the estranged Selina and Patrick, everyone is touched forever by the event that occurs at Moorgate.A long-held secret of deceit and betrayal comes to light in a surprise ending that leaves the reader satisfied yet longing to stay just a bit longer with these wonderful characters and the enchanting Moorgate.