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Winter Solstice cover art

Winter Solstice

Written by: Rosamunde Pilcher
Narrated by: Jilly Bond
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Publisher's Summary

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Rosamunde Pilcher, Winter Solstice (the basis for the TV movie) is the story of five unforgettable characters, lonely and haunted strangers who find love and loyalty as a reborn family of friends during the Christmas holidays.

Elfrida Phipps, once of London’s stage, moved to the English village of Dibton in hopes of making a new life for herself. Gradually she settled into the comfortable familiarity of village life—shopkeepers knowing her tastes, neighbors calling her by name—still she finds herself lonely.

Oscar Blundell gave up his life as a musician in order to marry Gloria. They have a beautiful daughter, Francesca, and it is only because of their little girl that Oscar views his sacrificed career as worthwhile.

Carrie returns from Austria at the end of an ill-fated affair with a married man to find her mother and sister sharing a home and squabbling endlessly. With Christmas approaching, Carrie agrees to look after her sister's awkward and quiet teenage daughter, Lucy, so that her mother might enjoy a romantic fling in America.

Sam Howard is trying to pull his life back together after his wife has left him for another. He is without home and without roots, all he has is his job. Business takes him to northern Scotland, where he falls in love with the lush, craggy landscape and set his sights on a house.

It is the strange rippling effects of a tragedy that will bring these five characters together in a large, neglected estate house near the Scottish fishing town of Creagan.

“Tender…evocative…an occasion to celebrate.”—People

“[Readers] may find so much enjoyment in
Winter Solstice that they’ll want to revisit some of her other books, such as The Shell Seekers and Coming Home.” —USA Today

©2000 Rosamunde Pilcher (P)2018 Hodder & Stoughton Ltd.

What the critics say

“The author of The Shell Seekers has penned another romance sure to give fans the warm fuzzies.” —Publishers Weekly


“Elegant reading in which Rosamunde Pilcher provides the two hallmarks of her writing: gentle, atomospheric recreation of English lifestyles and an appealing cast of interesting people whose lives come together for new experiences while theyre making other plans.” —RT Book Reviews (four stars)

“... remarkably evocative sense of place and watercolorist's eye for muted detail.” —Kirkus Reviews

What listeners say about Winter Solstice

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    4 out of 5 stars

Good story

I enjoyed this story. However, the narrator’s voice was very difficult to listen to. It really detracted from the listening enjoyment.

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Perfect

Perfect cozy story for this time of year. Loved it. A feel good story with a great narrator

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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Enjoyed immensely!

I love this story and it has become like a comfortable old friend that I visit frequently.
I love how the narration is performed. It so well done that you can even hear and feel the different characters. I can picture in my mind each character as though they were on a screen.
I have the paperback version which I have read many times but listening to Jilly read it has really brought it to life! Very well done!

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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  • Ed
  • 2022-01-09

Loved it!

heart warming story filled with a satisfying cast of characters and superb narration. we'll worth the credit highly recommend it!

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
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Great story

Great story. I loved they started out as different stories and intertwined together beautifully. I did find towards the end my mind kept straying and I kept having to go back to re listen. Otherwise would have been 5 stars from me <3 I will definitely read or listen to more of her books.

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Didn’t want it to end…

Everything about this book was wonderful…the characters, their evolving relationships, the descriptiveness of the scenery and settings and narration. The way such tragic events lead to such a heartwarming ending brought me to tears.

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    4 out of 5 stars

Very much a feel good story

I really enjoyed this story and most of the characters. I thought the character of Elfreida very much a Pollyanna type of personality. I liked the story but thought oscar should have taken longer to grieve before making such huge decisions. Very good story. Not giving it 5 stars because I found the reader annoying at first but seemed to get accustomed to it. I might avoid a book read by that reader in future.

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  • P
  • 2020-01-15

A Tradition

I adore this book. It was the first Rosamunde Pilcher book I ever read and I was immediately hooked, going on to read all her others. The characters in this story become like friends and like the holidays, you hate to see them go as you listen to the last paragraph. It's been a tradition of mine to read it every Christmas but then I was in a car accident and sadly after being a lifelong avid reader, I found reading print quite difficult. Thank goodness for audiobooks and for Audible!

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    4 out of 5 stars
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Voices

I found that some of this was hard to understand as the voice quality of some of the minor characters was overdone with accent and an attempt to reflect age. But I loved th

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Great story

Thoroughly enjoyed was a beautiful story. The narration was excellent and very skillfully done. Made it most pleasing.

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