Winter Solstice Mass Market Paperback – January 1, 2001

If you need something to read that doesn't raise your blood pressure, make you sad or angry but that is just a good story about good people, this book is for you. I found it charming, comforting, well-written and relatable. Just reading the headlines these days is enough to make you question the moral compass of our nation and elected leaders, but this story reassuringly illustrates innate goodness of people and their ability to weather the storms of life and find happiness after the clouds finally break.

WINTER SOLSTICE is one of my favorites among Pilcher’s later novels, and one I often re-read at during the holiday season. I love it for its warmth and sensitivity, but most of all for the spirit of hope, generosity, and renewal that permeates the entire novel.The book follows several characters who at first seem to have little in common: Elfrida, an older single woman befriended by Oscar and Gloria Blundell; Sam, an executive with an international wool company; Carrie, who has just returned to London having left her job at a European ski resort; and Lucy, Carrie’s 14-year-old niece. Carrie is distantly related to Elfrida, but the women haven’t been in touch in years.Elfrida is the center — in a way, the anchor — of the novel. A retired actress, Elfrida is both practical and exuberant; she embraces life with cheerful, even determined optimism. Yet her own experiences, including the loss of the man she loved, have given her an accepting and compassionate spirit and an understanding of others’ pain that helps draw the others together.Every character in the novel seems to have a life beyond the page. I feel, after several readings, as if I know them well enough to recognize them across the street — as if I could visit Creagan and be greeted as a friend not seen in several years. Oscar’s gentle nature and innate kindness endear him to me. Carrie is level-headed and more patient with her self-centered sister and mother than I would be; she’s an ideal aunt. Lucy is one of the nicest young teens you’ll come across, despite the usual assortment of adolescent insecurities and the handicap of being raised by a selfish mother and grandmother. And Sam is a good man as well as a capable and assured businessman.As the blurb suggests, it’s tragedy that brings them all together, tragedy and the loss of love. And yet it is love in the broader sense that heals each of them, that opens for them a brighter future. One of the things I treasure most about WINTER SOLSTICE is that Pilcher’s writing doesn’t descend into sappy or overly-facile resolutions; instead, the book ends on an hopeful note, with several new beginnings that, while deeply satisfying, don’t guarantee storybook “happy ever afters.” Pilcher’s underlying belief in healing and hope reminds me of the writings of Elizabeth Goudge, which may be one reason I enjoy her books so much.I highly recommend WINTER SOLSTICE, particularly if you’re looking for novel with both holiday spirit and emotional depth. The title has several meanings; the winter solstice is both the season in which half or more of the book takes place, and a reminder and celebration of the rebirth of light, life, and joy. It is a lovely book, one I will treasure for many years to come.Review originally published on The Bookwyrm's Hoard blog.

I am a serious Anglophile, and therefore enjoyed the parlance and colloquialisms, such as a "sit up and beg" bicycle. And Pilcher is a delightful writer. I haven't read anything of hers for many years, as her work sometimes feels a little too sentimental for me. But this was good, and reading it in November gave me a nice holiday feeling.I did get caught up in the momentum of it, although I thought the man with the deeply troubled heart (Oscar) was left ruminating in front of the fire too often. His inner thoughts were often expressed by his unusual partner, Elfrida, and we were not shown much of his personal journey of healing until the very end. And as for Elfrida, I confess I found her character off-putting. The good-hearted, former repertory performer with the untamed marmalade-colored hair and the daily "slash of bright lipstick" just seemed like a bit of a floozy -- hard for me to relate to. But the book was Pilcheresque, and it reminded me that I do enjoy her work.

What a fabulous read."Winter Solstice" is a quiet novel about how we make our own families, finding them in the most unexpected ways and places. In this novel, five very-different people make their way to a manor house in the north of Scotland, where they become snowed in for the winter holidays, which none of them were expecting to celebrate, all for their own reasons.Most of the story centers around Elfrida, a former actress of a certain age who moves to a small town in Hampshire to start anew after a severe loss. There, she meets Oscar - a church organist and teacher - and his family. When Oscar experiences his own tragedy, he is forced to move, and chooses to move to Scotland, where he is half-owner of a house which he hasn't visited in years. In friendship, Elfrida offers to drive to Scotland w/ him. Elfrida's "niece," Carrie, has moved home to London from several years working in Austria, b/c of her own hearbreak. There, Carrie catches up w/ HER niece, 14-year-old Lucy, whom Carrie's sister nor mother want to care for over the Christmas holiday. As Carrie feels badly for Lucy, she offers to take her to visit Elfrida for the holiday. Mother and grandmother gladly accept. Except...where is Elfrida? She isn't in Hampshire! Apparently, she has decamped for the Scottish Highlands! Then, a complete stranger stops at the door where Carrie greets him, only to find out that he is actually there to buy half the house from Oscar's cousin! Sam is the new manager of a defunct woolen mill whose company wants to resurrect it, and needs a place to live, as he has recently returned from working in New York for years, leaving behind his own grief. This sets up some tension between the adults, as Oscar really has no where else to live, and cannot afford to buy out his cousin, or Sam, if he buys the half of a house.The reader can see how all this is going to end, but it's the getting to the end that is so lovely, and so hard to put down. The resolutions to each individual's problems are unique, unforeseen, and really satisfying. As well, the descriptions of the Highlands in the deep snow are really breathtaking, and just add to my bucket-list resolve to visit soon. A solid 5 stars and a deeply-satisfying third book in my trilogy of Christmas-themed reads to end 2023.