Synopsis
"Some women can touch a man and heal like Jesus. The man who sees sunrise from a Belle woman’s bed will swear he’s been born again."
So begins Paula Wall’s funny, poignant, and sexy novel, The Rock Orchard. Musette Belle could lay her hand on a baby’s heart and see his life as if he’d already lived it. Even in death, she continues to shock the good citizens of Leaper’s Fork, Tennessee, and her descendents are doing their best to carry on her legacy. Angela Belle, a haunting and beautiful siren, lures every man she meets into greatness, while her illegitimate and very independent daughter, Dixie, serves tea and vanilla wafers to the statue of the Confederate soldier she believes is her father. But when Charlotte Belle, a woman who would rather spend the night with Jack Daniels than any man she knows, seduces a stranger in the cemetery, it not only transforms the two people involved but the entire town.
Blending sensuality, wisdom, and wry wit to create a truly unique love story, The Rock Orchard is about the strength of community, the might of God, and the ultimate power of extraordinary women.
Publishers Weekly
The legendary Belle family women of Leaper's Fork, Tenn., sparkle to life in this fine debut novel by the author of the popular syndicated humor column "Off the Wall." In 1920, tough-minded 23-year-old Charlotte Belle comes to raise her dead sister's bastard child and names her Angela. At 17, Angela, a free-spirited girl with an open heart and the same snappy independence as her aunt, captures the affections of Adam Montgomery, the new doctor in town, on the day he helps her give birth in his back garden. Adam's fianc e, Lydia Jackson, is a cold-hearted Boston-bred snob who takes an instant dislike to vivacious Angela. While ably capturing the insouciant charm of the saucy Belle women and the men they bewitch, Wall loses points for giving short shrift to two major elements introduced late in the story: Adam and Lydia's blueblood Bostonian crowd, who make a too-brief appearance at a winter estate on sultry Banyan Island, and the Rev. Thomas Lyle, who appears out of left field to become the sole contender for Charlotte Belle's heart. Wall's light-as-a-feather prose and winning characters carry the novel, but more work on plot and structure would improve her next effort. Agent, Aaron Priest. 7-city author tour. (Jan. 31) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.