Whitethorn Woods

By: Maeve Binchy

Narrated by: various

Length: 12 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

“Whitethorn Woods is Binchy’s best read in a decade...Few contemporary novelists match Binchy’s gift for giving us the world through her characters’ eyes.” (The Globe and Mail, Toronto)

Maeve Binchy once again brings us an enchanting book full of the wit, warmth, and wisdom that have made her one of the most beloved and widely read writers at work today.

When a new highway threatens to bypass the town of Rossmore and cut through Whitethorn Woods, everyone has a passionate opinion about whether the town will benefit or suffer. But young Father Flynn is most concerned with the fate of St. Ann’s Well, which is set at the edge of the woods and slated for destruction. People have been coming to St. Ann’s for generations to share their dreams and fears, and to speak their prayers. Some believe it to be a place of true spiritual power, demanding protection; others think it’s a mere magnet for superstitions, easily sacrificed.

Not knowing which faction to favor, Father Flynn listens to all those caught up in the conflict, and these are the voices we hear in the stories of Whitethorn Woods - men and women deciding between the traditions of the past and the promises of the future, ordinary people brought vividly to life by Binchy’s generosity and empathy, and in the vivacity and surprise of her storytelling.

Maeve Binchy is at the very top of her form in this irresistible tale.

©2006 Maeve Binchy (P)2007 Books on Tape

Critic reviews

"Binchy deliver[s] a panoply of richly drawn first-person characters....[She] takes it all in and orchestrates the whole masterfully." (Publishers Weekly)

“Binchy has an accessible, comfortable writing style and fine storytelling ability...[Her] stories of an Ireland in transition have pleased readers for years.” (Joan Hinkemeyer, Rocky Mountain News)

“Maeve Binchy is a benevolent god of a novelist...Whitethorn Woods draws on her strengths: She can channel Irish voices with the best of them, and each of those voices has its own twisting story to tell...often with verve and humor.” (Margaret Quamme, Columbus Dispatch)

"Binchy focuses her prodigious talent on a robust assemblage of characters....Inventively and intricately weaving a series of linked vignettes, [she] astounds with the versatility of the supplicants' voices....Binchy is at her best in this tender yet potent tale." (Booklist)

A fan of Maeve But......

I usually like books by Maeve Binchy and so was looking forward to this listen. Although it does usually take me an hour or two to get into her stories, this one was different. I was on hour four when I finally gave in and quit. I just didn't find it interesting. The characters weren't that great, it jumped all over the place...Sorry to say this isn't her best.

Whitehorn Woods

Defiantly not her normal style! First couples of chapters were very difficult to get through. But I persevered and finished. Was so excited to have a new, great Maeve Binchy read… was somewhat disappointed with the style. Lots of different characters and nothing really jelled. Good read, not great.