43 pages • 1 hour read
A Week in Winter
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Chapters 4-5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 4 Summary: “Winnie”
Winnie is a nurse in her early thirties and unmarried. At her birthday party, she and some friends meet two men named Peter and Teddy. Winnie and Teddy connect and begin seeing each other. Soon, Winnie learns that Teddy has a weekly dinner appointment with his mother, Lillian, with whom he has a close relationship. When Winnie meets them one evening, she dresses modestly because she thinks Lillian will be old and humble. Instead, Lillian is relatively young and immensely powerful. After their dinner, Winnie feels thwarted and ashamed. Teddy’s friend, Greta, explains that Lillian is overprotective and scared of losing her son. The next time Winnie joins Teddy and Lillian, along with some of Lillian’s friends, she is much more prepared and composed. Winnie tells Teddy and Lillian about a new hotel she’s come across, Stone House, and her idea of going for a week’s holiday with Teddy. Teddy is enchanted with this idea and suggests that his mother accompany them. When Winnie suggests her dates, she’s relieved to learn Teddy is unavailable; however, he makes matters worse by suggesting Winnie and Lillian go together. The women are horrified at this idea but can’t get out of it without offending Teddy. Ultimately they agree.
In the weeks preceding the holiday, Winnie becomes moody and withdrawn as she considers the battle ahead. Chicky greets them at the hotel, and Winnie receives an encouraging text message from Teddy. At dinner, Winnie considers the other assembled guests. Afterwards, Chicky tells the guests about the walking routes around the house, including several sea caves. However, she warns them to be mindful of being cut off by the tides. One day during their week, Chicky warns everyone about an approaching storm. Lillian takes no notice and leads Winnie to one of the sea caves. Despite her misgivings, Winnie enjoys the experience—until a ferocious tide cuts off their exit. Winnie and Lillian retreat as far as possible and begin to despair. Slowly, a camaraderie emerges between them as they discuss Winnie’s love for Teddy and sing songs to distract themselves from their plight. Finally, the tide begins to recede. Meanwhile, Chicky organizes a search party for the missing women and fields a call from Teddy. Winnie and Lillian are returned safely, and Lillian encourages Winnie to call Teddy; they sense that their relationship has shifted.
Chapter 5 Summary: “John”
John, now known as Corry, attempts to reconcile himself with being called by his birth name instead of his better-known stage name, Corry Salinas. He reflects on how he gave himself the name while living at an orphanage. Later, he began working at a deli preparing lunches for local film crews and took acting lessons. Corry’s girlfriend Monica gives birth to a baby girl named Maria Rosa, and Corry begins finding acting roles. He and Monica get married, and his career takes off. However, a brief affair with a co-star leads to his divorce. Later, he marries a socialite named Sylvia. They live an artificial, high-profile life, and Sylvia regularly excludes Corry’s daughter from events. When she refuses to allow Maria Rosa or the orphanage nuns who raised him at his birthday party, Corry ends their marriage.
Maria Rose grows up practical and level-headed, uninterested in her father’s glittering life. As Corry grows older, his agent, Trevor, encourages him to take on TV roles. However, Corry resists, thinking they’re a step down from major films. One day, Corry’s business manager is killed, and his financial affairs fall into disarray; in dire straits, Corry agrees to meet with the investors and producers of a TV series. On his way, he goes through several flight delays and ultimately misses his connection in Ireland, leading him to miss the meeting. He decides to take a break and books a week’s stay at Stone House. When he arrives, he uses his old name and is relieved that no one seems to recognize him.
The next morning, he calls his daughter, but their relationship feels disconnected. He visits with the other guests and explores the local village. Some neighbors tell him about Chicky’s past in America and about a local man named Frank, who drives a bright pink van. Frank loves films and often goes to the cinema. One day, Corry offers to drive Orla into town, and they go for coffee. Orla admits they all know who he is but have respected his privacy. He tells Orla about his family, and Orla tells him about her lackluster love life. Orla encourages Corry to take more pleasure in his fame, and in return, she promises to be more open to love. When they pass by a pink van outside a bar, Corry goes in and greets Frank by name, making his day.
Chapters 4-5 Analysis
These chapters focus on two individual characters, although the first focuses on an extrapersonal relationship while the second illustrates an individual, internal journey. Building on the first section, which establishes the preparation of the house, these chapters introduce some of the guests that will populate the “week in winter” of the title. The first chapter begins by immediately establishing Winnie’s need within her life: “Of course Winnie would like to have married. Or to have had a long-term partner. Who wouldn’t?” (110). When she eventually does meet someone, it’s an organic meeting between new friends. After a promising start, though, Winnie encounters a major obstacle and her primary antagonist. Winnie’s laid-back maturity is juxtaposed against Lillian’s youthfulness despite her age and her petty jealousy around her son, which puts them on a level playing field despite being from two different generations. The transformation in this story is on Lillian’s part as well, with the growth oriented around the two women and their relationship rather than around Teddy. Winnie’s role is to maintain her position: “Battle lines were not going to be drawn over Teddy. He was an adult, a man who could and would make his own decisions” (117). Lillian, in contrast, must change. She is conveyed initially as “a mama animal in the wild […] protective of its young” (116-117).
Their opposing positions lead the two women into a contentious rivalry that ultimately brings them to Stone House, where they are observed by other guests as an unusual and slightly confusing couple with clear secrets hidden under the surface. Their first meeting with Chicky reveals new insight about each of them, beginning the slow process of breaking down the walls each has erected between them: “In no time at all, Mrs Starr had discovered more about Lillian and Winnie than either woman had ever known” (132). Through their interactions with the other guests, the novel drops hints in the other characters’ behaviors of stories still to be revealed. The narrative then removes Winnie and Lillian from the rest of the group in order to explore their strengths, weaknesses, and relationship more deeply. This transition ushers the two women into the climax of their Healing and Redemption journey in the context of their relationship. They find themselves in the literal body of the earth at the edge of land and water, caged in by the sea in a gestative space similar to a womb. It is in this natural place that they are able to find solidarity in one another and break down the barriers that had been keeping them apart. Notably, they achieve this largely through music, a motif that appears later in the text and is deeply associated with Irish culture.
Corry’s story begins by establishing the dichotomy between his two given names: “John [Corry] had to remember that they were talking to him when they called out his name. It has been so long since anyone had called him John, which was in fact his real name” (149). This moment begs the question of what constitutes “real,” or a real identity. The narrative then plummets directly into John’s childhood and teenage years, during which he found himself in an ascending career. The narrative intercuts between Corry’s professional life and his home life, showing how the two sides of himself become divergent over time. By the time he enters into a relationship with Sylvia, his inner and outer selves have come completely apart, marking a profound strain regarding The Internal Versus External Self. This strain is particularly highlighted by Sylvia’s aversion to Corry’s daughter, Maria Rosa. Nonetheless, Corry resists change until a financial crisis forces him to reassess his place and priorities. Stoneybridge is a complete antithesis to Corry’s Hollywood life, and the contrast helps him reconnect with his humanity. Initially, Corry is resistant to revealing his celebrity identity and hopes to embody only his internal self instead. However, he soon learns that the local people do in fact recognize him, but they respect his privacy and authenticity while he is in their space. This kindness shows him that it is possible to be both John and Corry at the same time, rather than having to choose one or the other.
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