In 1934, April Asbury moves to Fertile, Missouri, to work
as nurse to the small-town doctor there, Doc Forbes. She's
happy to leave the big city behind and move to a place
where everyone knows everyone. What she doesn't expect is
that, as the prettiest new thing to hit Fertile in quite
some time, she'll have men lining up outside the Doc's
office to take her out.
It's the first guy she meets in town, Joe Jones, who keeps
her interest, but she can tell he's a heartbreaker and
she's determined not to go that route. Joe just can't help
himself -- he flirts with any woman around.
This book is rife with plotlines -- there's Doc, who's in
love with a woman with a smidgen of colored blood in her
that would cost him his license if anyone found out;
there's the widow who owns the hardware store who found out
her husband had been a rapist and who's wanting revenge on
all the children he fathered outside their marriage;
there's Joe's brother, Jack, who has, to all intents and
purposes, lost the love of his life, Ruby May.
I both loved and was disappointed in this book. I loved the
people of Fertile, they're idiosyncrasies, their loves,
their devotion to small-town and family. Joe and April are
terrific characters and the dialogue was sharp. But there
were too many plots packed in here and at the end, I felt
as if they didn't come to fruition. The evil widow alone
could have had her own book, and the whole issue of race in
the early 1900s could have had another. Doc's story I did
think was fulfilled, as was the love of Joe and April. But
the widow's ending was a definite let-down. Maybe it comes
from reading too many modern bloody mysteries, but I really
thought there would be more there. That said, I still
recommend this book. What a great slice of Americana -- I
felt that I was living in Fertile, entwined in all the
gossip and caring and annoyance of a small town.
April Asbury has come to Fertile, Missouri, to work for the
town doctor, Todd Forbes. She ends up on the doorstep of
Joe Jones, who’s instantly smitten with the young nurse.
Meanwhile, the Jones family is turned upside down when the
unstable widow of a rapist challenges the paternity of
Joe’s youngest sister. And as April tries to help, she
finds herself caught between the affections of both Todd
Forbes and Joe Jones....
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