43 pages • 1 hour read
A Week in Winter
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Symbols & Motifs
Stone House
Although the novel is driven by character and human need, each character’s journey centers around, or concludes with, this one particular physical structure. Stone House is the only constant across the characters’ stories, including the stories of supporting characters like Miss Queenie and Carmel. For the first three stories, as the characters live and work in the house, it represents regeneration and rebirth as well as a connection to the past. While the house’s origins aren’t explored in detail, it’s known that it has existed since Chicky and Nuala’s childhoods and that it housed the three Sheedy sisters throughout their life and up until their deaths. Many of the features are original, a point of contention between Orla and the hired designers, and these details root it in the village’s local heritage. At the same time, the house is updated with contemporary comforts so that it can offer a positive and value-driven experience for guests. This renovation creates a bridge between the old and the new, reflecting the novel’s interest in transformation and self-discovery.
For Rigger in particular, the house becomes a place of renewal. He is directly involved in the physical restoration of the house and its land, which leads to his own internal restoration as he becomes increasingly invested in the house’s wellbeing: “He dug the wild, unkempt gardens of Stone House until his back ached and his face was roughened by the constant sea spray” (49). Here, two transformations take place in parallel. The house is also a place of coming together in solidarity between the disconnected guests, several of whom come to understand each other in new ways. This connection is particularly emphasized in a cumulative way when the characters agree to create a festival of friendship, symbolizing the effect the house has had on them.
The magic of Stone House also shines in the chapter on The Walls, in which the central characters are feeling dispirited and cheated out of their anniversary holiday: “If they had intended to win this holiday, they would have been delighted with her, but Mrs Starr must never know how very poor a consolation this holiday was going to be” (256). Eventually, the characters come to see their stay as a symbol of comfort, camaraderie, and luxury, instead of compromise. A similar arc of renewal happens in Corry’s story, where Stone House becomes a restorative place amid the chaos of a straggling career.
Gloria
Gloria, the cat at Stone House, is introduced to the story around the same time as Rigger, and the two form a surprising, interconnected friendship: “He liked it best when Gloria decided to keep him company […] Her curiosity was infinite and insatiable; she explored tirelessly as he worked on” (49). Chicky uses Gloria as a metaphor for Rigger when he asks, in asking whether or not the cat will be allowed to stay, whether he will be allowed to stay. Together, the pair both work to become an accepted part of the household. Later, Gloria also appears as a foil to the interior designers Howard and Barbara. They show disdain toward her, calling the cat “unhygienic” (100) before getting into an altercation with her that results in Gloria hiding, “trembling, until rescued by Miss Queenie” (101). The novel uses Gloria’s warmth and innocence to juxtapose the designers’ dishonesty and prejudice.
Gloria exists on the novel’s periphery until she connects with Freda in the final chapter, and a special bond forms between them: “Freda and Gloria had by now become inseparable. The little black and white cat followed Freda throughout the house and escorted her on her walks through the garden” (354). Although it is not overtly stated, there is a hint of folkloric undercurrent here in regard to Freda’s extrasensory perception. Since cats have been traditionally drawn to those with extraordinary abilities (such as the archetypal witch’s familiar), there may be a deeper sense of mutual understanding that underlines Gloria and Freda’s relationship.
The Natural World
Rural Ireland is often characterized by its relationship to the natural world. As a town directly situated on the edge of the Atlantic, Stoneybridge is deeply affected by this landscape in a variety of ways. It represents the polarity of natural order, the potential for both creation and destruction. The clearest example of this duality comes in Winnie’s and Lillian’s story, when they find themselves cut off from the safety of the ordered world by the chaos of the natural world. Within this uncontrolled space, they’re forced to journey inwards and face their personal grievances, leading to a kind of rebirth within a natural womb. Later, the natural world again becomes an antagonistic force when Henry and Nicola rescue Shay O’Hara from jumping off a cliff. In this moment, the natural world is a source of the ultimate unequivocal destruction. Conversely, however, it’s the natural world that provides Henry and Nicola a way to reach Shay: they connect over a shared love and fascination for this unique ecosystem. Through each of the characters, the novel proves how this wildness can be a transformative, treacherous, yet ultimately regenerative space.
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