Book Review: Whitethorn Woods

Many years ago, my mother introduced me to a beloved writer, Maeve Binchy.  She is a wonderful story weaver who is able to make a reader feel like they have literally stepped into the lives and locations of the characters.  Like the stories of Alexander McCall Smith, where the story itself is made more rich when you can listen to someone read it in the intended dialect, Binchy's books are perfect when consumed in an audio format.  Thus, after learning of Binchy's recent death, I made a point of selecting one of her novels for my listening pleasure recently.

Whitethorn Woods, like so many of Binchy's books, introduces the reader to a cast of interesting characters all connected to the tiny town of Rossmore, Ireland.  A new road is set to run through Rossmore, cutting through Whitethorn Woods and threatening a local shrine to St. Ann.  Opinions are divided on the merits of the road and the importance of the shrine.  Various characters are introduced in one story line after the next until they all become a full-fledged community and take on a larger-than-life feel for the reader.

Binchy has certainly maintained her trademark skills in this novel (although some may find it a bit more difficult to get into than some of her other novels since each character is almost a separate entity or short story, linked together by the common attachment to this local shrine).  I am saddened to think that we will no longer have access to further stories from this master storyteller.  One more novel, A Week in Winter, is set to be released in 2013, but after that, Binchy's repertoire has been set.  Thankfully, I haven't exhausted her entire repertoire yet, but fully intend to.