“Can’t cook but doesn’t bite”.
In 1909, a Montana widower with three sons places an ad looking for a housekeeper. This is the answer he receives. In spite of the unusual reply, Rose is hired and arrives in town with her curious brother, Morris, who is a bit of a scholar. When the local schoolmarm runs off to get married, Morris is pressed into service as the teacher. Both Rose and Morris change the lives of the local residents in unexpected ways. But there’s a reason they were so anxious to leave their home town . . .
Stewart O’Nan has been called the “bard of the working class”. He loves writing about those who normally have no voice, the ones other authors (or publishers) think aren’t interesting enough. Years ago I read his “A Prayer for the Dying” (FIC ONAN) and it has stuck with me ever since as being one of those compelling pageturners where black and white answers will never be an option. His writing style can’t be categorized–it changes with every book.
Major Ernest Pettigrew is retired and lives a quiet life in a small village in the English countryside. He values all things British - tea time, great literature, and, above all, proper decorum. His son, Roger, flies into town from London every once in a while – just long enough to upset the quiet life-style the Major has come to enjoy but not long enough to form a bond with his father.