Paradise Fields

By Katie Fforde

Book Overview

It's not as if Nel Innes doesn't have enough on her plate already: keeping track of her unnervingly beautiful teenage daughter, sorting out a house full of animals, and organizing a farmers' market in the picturesque Paradise Fields. The last thing she needs is yet 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 property, 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 who can she trust? She's pretty sure her friends Sacha and Vivian are on her side, but her sensible boyfriend of six months, Simon, an estate agent, is less encouraging. And then there's Jake, the infuriating yet attractive stranger who surprised her with a kiss under the mistletoe at the last market before Christmas. Maybe she's been a celibate widow for a little too long....

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312333323
• ISBN13: 9780312333324
• Release Date: December 2004
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.53 lbs.
• Dimensions: 10.0" x 1.2" x 5.9"

Customer Reviews

A charming story

Katie Fforde writes delightful stories about nice people. I was feeling particularly down one day (had just visited a much-loved family member who was dying of cancer) and needed something light and happy to read, so I plucked this book off my TBR shelf and settled down in my favorite chair. From the first word, I was immediately carried away into Fforde's fictional world. Nell is a lovely heroine--the kind of woman I would enjoy knowing. It was fun to read about her life because I knew that no matter how serious the problems were that she encountered, all would be well in the end. This is a great story told in Fforde's lighthearted style with both skill and charm. You'll enjoy it.

Very Nice Read

The first word that comes to mind after reading this novel is "pleasant" (a vastly underrated adjective IMHO). I haven't read this author before, and it was such a nice experience to read a book that was more about ordinary people, trying to live their lives as best they could, than about plot machinations and torrid sex scenes every other page (not that there's anything wrong with that). One comes to care about these characters and sympathize with their struggles of having to compromise about a real estate development, acknowledging that the children are really growing up and parents are really growing old. So if you are looking for a well written book with strong character development, this book's the ticket. Nicely done!

Fforde At Her Very Best

There is no such thing as a bad Katie Fforde book, but Paradise Fields, her latest, is simply quintessential Katie: charming, funny, witty, engaging and a joy to read. Here is the story of just-over-40 widow Nel Innes, who thinks of herself as an over-the-hill dowdy "old thing," a perception not shared by anyone else in her life, from her gorgeous best friend Viv to her twentysomething daughter Fleur to her dull-as-nails boyfriend, estate agent Simon (yawn). Nel halfheartedly thinks she will probably settle down at some point with Simon so she has a man around to do DIY work, when she gets embroiled in a community effort to safe Paradise Fields, a strip of riverfront land upon which sits the sick-children's hospice, a charity dear to her heart. Nel is used to running farmers' markets and other charity events on Paradise Fields, all of whose profits go to the hospice, but now she is up against a real threat as a heartless couple and their equally heartless land developer plan to turn it into a housing development. As Nel plots and plans desperately to save the land, the landowning couple's nefarious (maybe) attorney Jake comes to muddy the waters. Literally. Nel knows better than to consort with the enemy, but Jake's charm is lethal. Does Nel find love and happiness in Jake's arms? Or is he the devil? Will the hospice be saved? I found myself zipping through the pages, trying hard not to skip to the end to find out. It's that kind of book, as only Katie Fforde could write it. Enjoy!