Page Turners – March 2025 review

In March the Page Turners read ‘Whitethorn Woods‘ by Irish author Maeve Binchy. This book was published in 2006.

The book centres on a small Irish town. A much-needed new road threatens to cut through the woods and destroy St Anne’s Well where for centuries local people have gone to seek help for their hopes and fears. The local priest is unsure whether this is a place of religious significance or a centre for superstition and idolatry. Should it be saved or not?

The book comprises a series of short stories, each telling of the impact of the Well on the characters’ lives. Each story is told in the first person and from two different points of view which we found interesting. Some of the stories are linked by shared characters and sub plots. The village priest acts as a bridge at the beginning, middle and end and his chapters, written in the third person, helped to bring all the stories together. Gradually we build up a picture of the importance of the Well and by the time the loose ends are tied up in the final chapter we are left in no doubt that a compromise needs to be found between the traditional values and the modern needs. However we felt that the ending was weak.

We were fairly evenly split as to whether we enjoyed this book or not. Certainly those who had read other books by this author felt it was not one of her best. Many of us found it hard to keep track of such a large cast of characters and by the end we were checking back through the book to see how they fitted together. We wondered if the author had originally written parts of this book as separate stories and only melded them together later. We didn’t feel it would make a good film but the stand-alone stories could make it suitable for a television series and we would be interested in hearing more about some of the characters.

As usual some of us have copies of the book available so do get in touch if you would like to swap this page turner for one of your own.

Deborah,  convenor