Literary Comfort Food
In her 28th novel, Rosamunde Pilcher introduces an ensemble of five main characters who converge in Scotland on the darkest day of the year, Winter Solstice.
Former actress Elfrida Phipps, 62, flees London for a cottage in the small English village of Dibton where she is befriended by the Blundell family.
Retired college professor and organist Oscar Blundell turns to Elfrida when an auto accident claims the lives of his wife, Gloria, and 12-year-old daughter, Francesca. Grief-stricken Oscar leans on Elfrida who convinces him to return to his grandmother’s estate in Scotland where he retains half-ownership in the Estate House. Since he has nowhere else to go and Gloria’s sons have put The Grange up for sale, Oscar agrees.
When her affair with a married man turns sour, Elfrida’s second cousin, Carrie Sutton, leaves Austria and returns to London. There she finds her niece, Lucy, refusing to accompany her mother and male friend to Florida for two weeks. Grandmother, Dodie, also has plans to spend the holidays in Bournemouth with friends leaving the 14-year-old bereft of friends or family for winter break.
Called back to London by his company chairman to revive a defunct Scottish textile mill, Sam Howard, shows up at the Estate House during a blinding snow storm. While trying to enter the building with a key from Oscar’s cousin and co-owner, Sam discovers an ailing Carrie who invites him to come in out of the cold.
In two short weeks, these five people from three generations begin to put their lives back together and find something to celebrate.
While most readers reacted favorable to this novel of hope and renewal, some reviewers found fault with Pilcher’s unrealistic time frame for Oscar’s grief process. Gloria and Francesca have been dead for two months and Oscar and Elfrida are definitely a couple in every sense of the word.
Others found the players stereotypical: the grieving widower, the neglected child, the broken-hearted lover, the cold-blooded socialite and pleaded for multi-layered character development.
Most readers will find the plot predictable, but don’t let that keep you from enjoying the rich descriptions of domestic detail, exquisite depiction of Scotland in winter and that sure-to-please happy ending.
Discussion Questions follow:
1. Elfrida made many friends in the small village of Dibton, but the Blundells became her favorites. Discuss what attracted Elfrida to each one in turn: Oscar, Gloria, Francesca.
2. Both Oscar and Elfrida have spent much of their professional lives in London, yet find Dibton a comfortable place to live. What makes Elfrida comfortable? Oscar? How did the tragic auto accident affect their comfort level?
3. Sam retains fond memories of Radley Hall, his boyhood home, and Oscar remembers Corrydale, his grandmother’s estate. What memories do you carry with you of your childhood home or hometown? Good or bad?
4. Taking into account Elfrida’s admission that, “She liked Oscar immensely; perhaps too much,” how would you characterize her relationship with Oscar before and after the tragic accident?
5. Elfrida declared that she had to set limitations and reservations so she would not be absorbed by or be beholden to the Blundells. Discuss the above reference and explain what she is so afraid of.
6. Compare and contrast the two young girls (Lucy & Francesca) especially in their reaction to the merging of the pagan festival surrounding Winter Solstice with the Christian celebration of Jesus’ birth.
7. Why do you think Pilcher chose Winter Solstice as her book title?
8. How accurate is the author’s portrayal of the grief process? Some reviewers found it unrealistic that Oscar asked Elfrida to marry him just two months after the death of his wife and daughter. Do you agree?
9. What part does fate play in Winter Solstice? Did you find the plot believable? Did Pilcher’s use of fate lend to or detract from the novel’s believability?
10. Discuss Pilcher’s use of setting to propel the action of the novel. One reviewer felt that the setting assumed the position of an additional character in the book. Agree/Disagree?
What other Rosamunde Pilcher novels have you read and enjoyed?
