Winter Solstice (Paragon Softcover Large Print Books)

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Rosamunde Pilcher

Used from £8.22

Pages: 632 (Paperback)

ISBN: 0754023575

Pub: Chivers Large print (Chivers, Windsor, Paragon & C

Pub date: 2001-07-01

Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 586287

Editorial Review:

One time actress Elfrida Phipps retires to a country cottage but is almost immediately reactivated through the personal tragedy of a comparatively new friend, Oscar Blundell, with whom she moves to an imposing old house, his shared inheritance, in Scotland. As Christmas approaches they are joined by a lovelorn cousin, Carrie, and her 14-year-old niece, Lucy, who is currently bothersome to the progress of her mother's new found love, and to her grandmother's hedonistic lifestyle. Sam Howard, troubleshooter in the textile industry, recently separated from his wife, arrives on the doorstep and finds himself unwittingly part of the soon-to-be snowbound family over Christmas. "Are you still snowed in with us, Sam? I hope so," says Edwina. "It would be such fun for all of us to be together." And so they all live happily ever after.
Lynn Redgrave, a good reader, voices the characters well but there's a recurrent smugness of expression that neutralises feelings of sympathy for this assortment who are destined by too many coincidences. A story without tension, the burdens of bereavement and finance and pleasures of romance and companionship are determined by unlikely turns of fate and the benefit of acquaintances who facilely solve the problems. --Running time 6 hours
--Lyn Took

Reader Reviews:

Worth re-reading (4/4 people found this helpful)

Not being a genre that I normally read, I was pleasantly surprised. Pilcher was able to paint a picture of the lives of a handful of people without any wasted words or descriptions. She made you a deal that you were there. Two worlds that is just as real as the one that you wake up to. Yet even though the people are familiar the environment is unique. It is what you that he'll as you read this book that makes it worth of re-reading. My only wish is that there would be a sequel.
I'm now reading the book after first listening to the tape-recording, Read by Lynn Redgrave. Lynn has a pleasant reading voice and can distinguish between the characters well enough that you don't have to guess who is talking. The abridged version allows you to follow the story without taking too many sidetracks. Rosamunde Pilcher, Is one of the few writers that can make the sidetrack is interesting is the main story. She has made the reconsider this genre
I would describe the story itself, but it is better to have it unfold before your eyes. You will not be disappointed.

At the top of my list ! (1/2 people found this helpful)

I have just stepped over the threshold of my 5th decade of life and have begun a lot of books over these years. I only continue/finish those thatI really enjoy - which has resulted in a completion rate of about 50% - in a good year. I reread Winter Solstice each Christmas season - and have done so for 5 years now. I have just begun my 2006 reading. It has become a key part of the season for me - one that i look extremely forward to. It takes me to a place and time and people who i become more familiar with each year - like visiting an old friend - like Elfrida visiting Jeffrey. These are the richest most enjoyable characters I've ever come across - even the ones you don't care for. Most people can read this book and identify a handful of relatives - and if you're lucky - even find yourself within one of the characters. Different years I identify with different characters.
I understand that there is a sequel - maybe it's just a video - Summer Solstice I think is the name. I won't touch it - because i have my own image of how the stories continues and would not like to see that tainted.
Thanks Rosamund ! You're the best.
-steve j atlanta, ga usa

A gifted authoress with a captivating story (0/0 people found this helpful)

Some of our friends shun the idea of audio versions of good books and it is each to his own - no real argument. What is essential is the quality of the narrator. This one - at a reduced price from an earlier offering must be an abridged reading - and I would earnestly recommend that you search out the 'other' version - full, and a marathon story reading by the gorgeous wee Hannah Gordon. The film that was made of this book is quite simply a travesty and if you have seen it on TV try your best to forget it - the book/audio is much better. Hannah Gordon - She has the perfect accent and also the really quite astonishing ability of sounding like some of the male characters in the story! The 'old' audio, unabridged version, plays for about eighteen hours and is ideal if, like us, you drive long distances. Especially in the highlands of Scotland! Even in sections - the story is easy to rejoin. We are on our second playing for this year - it is THAT good. If you want more details of this older, better version - feel free to contact me by email glendinning@btinternet.com

Boring! (4/10 people found this helpful)

This must be the most boring book I have read for a long time. The story could have been written so much better - after all, five people thrown together through circumstance in a remote village in Scotland just before Christmas offers so many possibilities.
Unfortunately, Pilcher's characters spend most of their time looking forward to food, a good walk and saying "shall" and "frightfully good" , etc. No depth here in developing characters.
What I found also very dissapointing is one so-called "good" character, 60-odd years old Oscar Blundell, who is really very unlikeable: He marries a rich woman for comfort, then when she and their daughter die in a car crash, there is very little mourning, just lots of crossword solving. Oscar then, evicted by his late wife's sons, goes on to live in a house in Scotland, of which only half belongs to him (inherited of course, since he has apparently never been capable of achieving anything himself and relies throughout on other people to come up with solutions for him) and the other owner of this house is made to be the villain because he, owning after all half of the house, wants to sell his half. Oscar rather likes the grandeur of this house however, and therefore is devastated. Even worse, a man who Oscar disliked dies and leaves some money and a cottage to Oscar, which you would think would solve some of his problems; yet somehow being Oscar this still is not enough and his new partner needs to come up with �80,000 for him! Best of all, he still feels sorry for himself, - not for losing his wife and daughter, but it seems just so that other people look after him.
Add to that a very simple style of writing, predictable plot and sub-plots, this really is a read I did not enjoy at all.

Winter Soltice by Rosamund Pilcher (4/4 people found this helpful)

I was in the UK the day that this book was first offered for sale in August 2000. I sent copies home to friends and to myself. It is a favorite book since the hero and heroine are not in their 30's. I am now re-reading it since it is that time of the year again and I always enjoy it. It is a wonderful story of friendship, new-found "family", love and the kindness of others. Since I have a Scottish lineage, the location is particularly enticing. The descriptions of people and places allows the reader to be part of the story, if only in wishful thinking. The reader is there. What a great way to spend time reading. Rosamund Pilcher is one of my favorite authors that I can read over again. Wonderful story!

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