After 16 years of marriage Caroline Evans ended her marriage to James and 1 Β½ years later is searching for a home of her own. After her husband's two previous marriages, Caroline had believed things would be different for her but disillusioned to find her husband a cheater with women on the side. Now she has a 15 (nearly 16) year old daughter, Isobel, (Izzy) in tow traveling the countryside of Buford, wanting to relocate from their temporary London residence to find a quiet and healing place. . Izzy blames her mother for leaving her father and like all teens, estranges herself from Caroline whenever she can. In the soaking rain and sharp thunder, they spot the Star & Plough pub and their salvation.
Maggie Gonzalez, her husband, Jesus, and teen daughter Samantha surprise them with their warm attitude that takes them in and provides a hot meal and rooms above the pub. With sporadic support from her ex for child support and a very small stipend from the pre-nup signed at the time of the marriage, Caroline is desperate. Maggie offers room and board in exchange for Caroline using her earlier cooking training and hires her on at a small salary to help with the pubs cooking. Caroline now has a dream of buying a dilapidated barn with a small cottage as she spies an old sale sign advertising "Bar, Grill & Dancing" close by. With help from her parents and her ex's partner from Singapore, she buys the property with visions of renovating and operating her dream of a restaurant which she will call "A Place in the Country". She and Izzy meet many new friends along with Jim Thompson who is a carpenter helping her restore the place. Feelings begin to envelope Caroline as she becomes close to Jim. News of financial trouble following the death of her ex puts everything to a halt as secrets of James's past, which quickly become part of her future, puts Caroline and her feisty teen on a new path of sorrow and finally a place they can again call home.
A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY is brilliantly created by ELIZABETH ADLER and is one that will stay with you for a long time to come. Consisting of mystery, heartache, sorrow and emotion, the story line is one that every woman can equate to as a woman who loved her husband and now has to deal with the responsibility of caring for her daughter alone. I have not had the pleasure of reading any of this author's books before, but this one will definitely not be the last. A PLACE IN THE COUNTRY is a wonderful tale of healing and forgiveness, for both mother and daughter!
Fifteen-year-old Issy and her newly single mother, Caroline
Evans, are struggling to find their way alone, as well as
together. At thirty-eight, with little money and all the
responsibility for the two of them, Caroline is coming to
terms with her new situation. When she decides to leave
Singapore, home of her former well-off life (and her
cheating husband), she ends up living in an English village
pub, cooking dinners there to earn enough to get by, meeting
unexpectedly quirky people, and making friends. But Issy
still adores her father and secretly blames her mother for
their change in life. Just as Caroline's dream of
converting an old barn into a restaurant finally begins to
take shape, her chance at happiness is threatened and hangs
in the balance as whispers of murder and vengeance find
their way to her. When Issy, who is hovering in that limbo
between girl and young woman, begins to make some risky
choices, the stakes are raised even higher. A Place in the
Country is filled with emotions every woman will recognize
as Caroline and Issy make their way in the world and do
battle with those who would wish to see them lose their
chances to gain their heart's desires. Love and hate,
blame and responsibility, deception and trust all collide in
this novel that is Elizabeth Adler at her page-turning best.
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