The town of Rossmore is a special place, full of character charm. Nestled beside the Whitethorn Woods, the town has grown since the days when it was small and friendly and everyone knew everyone else; now it has chain stories and traffic problems and housing estates. But still, there are the woods, full of spiky bushes and criss-crossed with paths; and there's St Ann's Well, where generations have come to pray or make wishes or just to look back at the pretty little town. Which is why there is going to be such a fuss about the plans for the new motorway. It's going to by-pass Rossmore, cutting through Whitethorn Woods and endangering the well itself. The new road will bring jobs and relieve traffic in the town; for others, it will destroy businesses and leave the town a backwater. The people of Rossmore are divided. There is a lot of land standing in the way of the great road of progress. Quite by accident the decision rests on Neddy Nolan - the most honest man in Rossmore. A man determined to do the right thing.

The town of Rossmore, Ireland has been growing and a new highway is proposed which will alleviate some traffic problems. But as in all development something else has to go. St Ann's Well, a local shrine, may be the casualty. St Ann's Well has been the place where troubled people go to ask for cures, husbands and solutions to other problems.

This book is a collection of short stories about the people who are connected to the well. Father Flynn is the local priest who does not believe in the well but wants to cover all angles and goes to the well to ask for a sign. There is amiable Neddy Nolan who is billed as a simpleton but is smart where it counts and Dr. Dermot,an old doctor who wants to keep his patients at any cost and Lilly Ryan whose first child was abducted 22 years earlier. These are only a few of the people in Rossmore who have a tale to tell and a lesson to teach.

I am not too much into short stories but some of these were very good and the following story was the same story from a different viewpoint which made it very interesting. I love Binchy's novels but find her collections a little wanting.

mailed to my birthday partner today Have a great day!!

Thanks so much for this birthday wish book!

Review on my blog http://scifisstrs.blogspot.com/2016/08/whitethorn-woods.html?m=1

Thanks for the RABCK. Will be giving to my mom to read as she
Has started to get into Maeve Binchy,