winter solstice rosamunde pilcher book review

Yet she is far too energetic and independent to settle sweetly into pensioned-off old-age. She has brought up three children - and learned to accept them as they are. But somehow the Christmas season weaves its magical spell and for Elfrida and Oscar, in the evening of their lives, the winter solstice brings love and solace.Īrtist's daughter Penelope Keeling can look back on a full and varied life: a Bohemian childhood in London and Cornwall, an unhappy wartime marriage, and the one man she truly loved. Oscar and Elfrida take refuge in a rambling house in Scotland which becomes a magnet for various waifs and strays who converge upon it, including an unhappy teenage girl. But an unforeseen tragedy upsets Elfrida's tranquillity: Oscar's wife and daughter are killed in a terrible car crash and he finds himself homeless when his stepchildren claim their dead mother's inheritance. She has a tiny cottage, her faithful dog Horace and the friendship of the neighbouring Blundells - particularly Oscar - to ensure that her days include companionship as well as independence. All will converge on Scotland this September, bringing their stories with them.Ī beautiful novel of loss and the healing power of love by the much-loved Rosamunde PilcherĮlfrida Phipps loves her new life in her pretty Hampshire village. Far from them all is Pandora, the glamorous, exciting girl who ran away twenty years before. The oldest, strongest and wisest of them all, she sees Alexa, her vulnerable granddaughter, find love for the first time, while the decision to send her little grandson away to school is driving parents Edmund and Virginia even further apart.

The invitations summon home the group of people Violet Aird has cared for most in her long life.

The brilliant bestseller by the much-loved Rosamunde Pilcher.Īs spring comes to Scotland and the hills burst into life, a dance is planned for September.

Winter solstice rosamunde pilcher book review