WhiteThorn Woods

Author: Maeve Binchy

Rating: 4 Book Worms

My Opinion:

I have a new skill! I have figured out how to add pictures and borrow images from other websites! So cool. Who says an old dog can't learn new tricks? Anyway that is besides the point. Back to business.

One again Maeve Binchy has written a story that catches your imagination and heart. This time she writes about change, progress, and the need we have to cling to the old in the face of the unknown. This story is about a time honored local holy site that may be literally paved over when a new highway is built. The local are deeply and passionately divided about the need or lack there of for this new road. The characters in this story range from the complex Father Brian Flynn who hates the holy shrine devoted to St. Anne who is the mother of the Virgin Mary. He is constantly being asked to interceed on behalf the the devoted believers to save St. Anne's well. Local legend says that by praying at the well to St. Anne she will help you find a fiance', a spouse, or bless a marriage with children. Father Flynn thought it was silly and wished that Rome would back him but they seemed to want to leave this matter for him to resolve alone.

Each of the characters in this story have their own connection to the sacred well and the town of Rossmore and as each story is spun chapter by chapter you come to love Vera, the spinster who takes a "Singles Holliday" and the life long friendship of Rivka and Malka that starts in a most unlikely place. There is a love triange between an old country doctor, his devoted assistant, and the rich Irish-American who has come home to build a monument to the memory of his father. The town and surrounding countryside is filled with earthy Irish characters who teach us many things about ourselves through their experiences.

When it is all said and done you discover that this is really a story of relationships between people, tradition, and progress but mostly it is the story of how miracles happen and sometimes they come through the most unexpected sources.

Buy It or Borrow It: Given that this is one of my favorite authors I bought it. I will reread this book and wish I could go visit the beautiful Whitethorn Woods.