Paradise Fields (Charnwood Library) - Hardcover

Fforde, Katie

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1843951371 ISBN 13: 9781843951377

Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd, 2004

Synopsis

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 infuriating yet attractive stranger who kissed her under the mistletoe. Maybe she's been a celibate 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:

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

About this edition

• Publisher: Ulverscroft Large Print Books Ltd
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1843951371
• ISBN 13: 9781843951377
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 456