2004 Year in Review

Winter Solstice

A book for winter, December, actually, by one of the best authors of characterization, plot, and scene setting. I discovered Ms. Pilcher years ago when I read September and then The Shell Seekers. Because Ms. Pilcher is not a prolific writer, a reader waits eagerly for her next book. I love Winter Solstice! It is definitely one of the best books I have ever read. Certainly not a classic, but a book filled with such gentle people who discover what truly matters. This is a book that fills the reader with delight, joy, and peace. It is a book I wanted to never end…………..

And, so, we begin in a small village in England where Elfrida Phipps, once an actress on the London stage, has retired with her poodle, Horace. And though her heart was past the stage where it leaped for joy, she meets Oscar Blundell, an organist and wonderful musician, who had also retired to Dibton with his wife, Gloria. Elfrida later meets Francesca, Oscar and Gloria’s twelve-year-old daughter, a true delightful independent spirit. But while Elfrida is off visiting a cousin, Gloria and Francesca are killed in an automobile accident.

Oscar, in deep grief over the deaths of his family, decides he cannot stay in Gloria’s house. With Christmas coming soon, he wants to be far away…in Scotland, and asks Elfrida to come with him. Elfrida agrees and off they go to a rundown Victorian house in Sutherland, Scotland. “In mid-winter it was an alien landscape, monotone beneath a sky scoured by white by the wind.” As Oscar fights to find meaning in his life, and Elfrida attempts to let love in, they are joined, most unexpectedly by a young woman nursing a broken heart, a teenager escaping an unhappy home, and a stranger who arrives in the middle of a snowstorm. These five people, with different backgrounds, histories, and personalities, form an unexpected circle of friends that will forever change their lives.

This is a story that will warm your heart and make you more aware of those around you. It is a book of joy with special meaning now in December, the time of winter solstice. Have a good read this holiday!

by Anne Frame, Guest Columnist
December 8, 2004