Overview
Rachel Watkins has her hands full. Her mother had been the town midwife, but after her daughter Alice died under her care, she refused to assist in a childbirth ever again. Since then Rachel has assumed the work. She also takes care of Alice's six-year old, Charlotte, because the child's father was lost in World War I. But Rachel's principal job is running the boardinghouse that is the family's main source of income. One day, Charlotte befriends a stranger ill with influenza, a man who has taken refuge in an old cabin in the woods nearby. Although badly scarred by wounds suffered in the War, he is strong and slowly recovers. When he gradually takes on odd jobs around the house, Rachel accepts his help. She is drawn to him despite his disfigurement, and his voice is comforting, vaguely familiar...
Synopsis
Rachel Watkins has her hands full. Her mother had been the town midwife, but after her daughter Alice died under her care, she refused to assist in a childbirth ever again. Since then Rachel has assumed the work. She also takes care of Alice's six-year old, Charlotte, because the child's father was lost in World War I. But Rachel's principal job is running the boardinghouse that is the family's main source of income. One day, Charlotte befriends a stranger ill with influenza, a man who has taken refuge in an old cabin in the woods nearby. Although badly scarred by wounds suffered in the War, he is strong and slowly recovers. When he gradually takes on odd jobs around the house, Rachel accepts his help. She is drawn to him despite his disfigurement, and his voice is comforting, vaguely familiar...
Publishers Weekly
The prolific Garlock (The Moon Looked Down) returns to a familiar setting—a smalltown boarding house run by a struggling young woman—in her true-to-form latest. In Carlson, Minn., circa 1926, Rachel Watkins ekes out a living overseeing an inn owned by her mother and her likable drunk uncle. She's also a part-time midwife, just as her mother was before Rachel's sister, Alice, died while giving birth to her daughter, Charlotte. Eight years have passed since Mason Tucker, Alice's husband, was presumed dead in WWI, and now Mason's greedy brother, Zachary, wants to force Rachel's family to sell the boarding house. But when Charlotte discovers a shell-shocked hobo with a familiar voice living in a decrepit cabin nearby, she begins to think that he's Mason. As Rachel and her family try to outwit Zachary, love blooms in heartwarming, predictable Garlock fashion. If you've read Garlock before, you'll know what to expect. (Apr.)