Whitethorn Woods, by Maeve Binchy
Read in February 2013
Three Stars
When the prolific and bestselling Irish author Maeve Binchy died last year, I was surprised to realize that I’d never read any of her novels, so when I saw Whitethorn Woods on the lending shelf in the faculty lounge, I picked it up. The setting is a sizeable town in newly-prosperous Celtic Tiger Ireland which is divided by a proposal to build a bypass road that would destroy a beautiful woods that contains a sacred well of St. Ann, the grandmother of Jesus, where people flock in hopes the saint will answer their prayers. Binchy doesn’t take a conventional approach to the story of the conflict — there are no scenes of decision-makers, proponents, opponents, or debates. Rather she tells her tale in a series of vignettes, each narrated from the point of view of a single character in the town. Her cast of characters is large and comprehensive — dozens of people from all walks of life, each of whom has a specific problem they’re struggling with. Some characters are featured in multiple vignettes, notably the parish priest whose aid both sides hope to secure, but many appear just once. All of the virtues and vices of humankind find their way into this story, but Binchy is a generous writer who loves her characters — even the most villainous and the most virtuous are fully-rounded characters, not mere types. Binchy must have been a very wise woman because she certainly understood human nature, and she must have had a large and open heart because she doesn’t judge her characters but, instead, simply lets them have their say. Although eschewing the conventional approach to plot, Binchy still manages to resolve the central conflict and the fact that she does provides a useful reminder of what really counts in fiction: vivid characters who readers care about.
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