Dec 14, 2022 Staff Reads: Winter Solstice
Winter Solstice by Rosamunde Pilcher
Reviewed by Charity Craig, Marketing Assistant
Winter Solstice, the final book by British author Rosamunde Pilcher, is a story filled with characters who find themselves with no place to be for the holidays, except with each other.
This classic Pilcher novel, with its rich descriptions of the Scottish highlands and its slow development of characters that stick with you even after the final page, weaves together the lives of five people, ranging in age from teen to pensioner, who’ve all known deep loss. As virtual strangers to each other, they carry their scars into another holiday season that feels destined to be a disappointment, which makes this book a great companion for readers who also experience the holiday season as something other than tinsel and twinkle lights.
But Winter Solstice is also a book about kindness, serendipity, and hope. As the characters face their pasts, admit their wrongs, and open themselves up to their deepest longings again, they find something that’s far from perfect but just what they need for this season: friendship.
Winter Solstice is a book I return to every year during this season. It’s a tradition I started after a friend told me of her own perennial read-through of this classic. It’s a way to commemorate the winter holiday season while also having some time alone, to rest and recover, especially during all the holiday busyness.
Whether or not you’ve read Winter Solstice before, give yourself the gift of reading it this year. And every year after. You can find it in a variety of formats from Evergreen Indiana.