Paradise Fields: From the #1 bestselling author of uplifting feel-good fiction - Softcover

Fforde, Katie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0099446626 ISBN 13: 9780099446620

Publisher: Arrow, 2004

Synopsis

Can love conquer all? A wonderfully romantic novel from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Recipe for Love, A French Affair and The Perfect Match.

It's not as if Nel hadn't enough on her plate already: organising a farmers' market in the picturesque Paradise Fields and keeping track of her unnervingly beautiful teenage daughter - plus sorting out a houseful of animals - are quite enough to keep her busy. The last thing she needs is another complication in her life, but when her old friend Sir Gerald dies and his son, Pierce - accompanied by his glamorous American wife - takes possession of The Big House, it seems that preserving the Fields is not on his list of priorities.

Nel takes up arms, determined to fight for the meadow and the market she loves. But whom can she trust? She's pretty sure her friends Sacha and Vivian are on her side, but her sensible boyfriend Simon, an estate agent, is less encouraging. And then there's Jake, the exasperating yet attractive stranger who kissed her under the mistletoe. Maybe she's been a not-so-merry widow for far too long...

About this title

Review:

Katie Fforde's Paradise Fields does most of the things that a mid-life romantic novel ought and manages to have a charm that is all of its own. Youngish widow Nel has thrown herself into organising a farmer's market to raise money for a local hospice and is appalled when the land they use is to be sold for jerry-built housing. She is even more upset to find herself attracted to the young solicitor who is acting for the other side in the deal--one of the infuriating things about Nel is that she thinks of herself as sufficiently past-it that she would rather date the sniffy prig Simon than Jake, whose view of her as gorgeous she finds herself unable to trust.

Romantic novels such as this are built on the confounding of our expectations, but there are pleasant surprises beyond the usual--Fforde is very good, for example, on Nel's gradual softening towards Kerry Anne, the snotty American wife of the land's owner and on how a shared interest in organic skin products can make up for a lot of hostility. Not a ground-breaking book in any way, Paradise Fields nonetheless offers a pleasant mix of social observation, farce and mild steaminess. --Roz Kaveney

Review:

"A witty and generous romance - Katie Fforde is on sparkling form - Jilly Cooper for the grown-ups" (Independent)

"A romantic rural romp" (Daily Mirror)

"A winning tale of romance with a sense of humour" (The Good Book Guide)

"Old-fashioned romance of the best sort ... funny, comforting" (Elle)

"The romance fizzes along with good humour and is a good, fat, summery read" (Sunday Mirror)

About this edition

• Publisher: Arrow
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0099446626
• ISBN 13: 9780099446620
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 416