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A Place in the Country
Fifteen-year-old Issy, and a newly-single mother, Caroline Evans, are struggling to find their way alone, as well as together. At thirty-eight, Caroline is coming to terms with this new life, even though she has little money and all the responsibility for the two of them. When she decides to leave their well-off lives in Singapore (and her cheating husband and his long-tim...more
Hardcover, 352 pages
Published
June 19th 2012
by St. Martin's Press
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I admit I chose this book because of the cover, with a photo of a girl walking on a rustic path in a beautiful garden full of hydrangeas. The description sound like something I would enjoy, too: a single mother of a teenage daughter moves to the English countryside to open her own restaurant.
I couldn't stand it! The characters were trite and one-dimensional, and I didn't like the spoiled teenage daughter, the flirty, indecisive, weepy mother, or any of the other overly dramatic characters. The...more
I couldn't stand it! The characters were trite and one-dimensional, and I didn't like the spoiled teenage daughter, the flirty, indecisive, weepy mother, or any of the other overly dramatic characters. The...more
This book drives me crazy!!! Supposed to be a novel of how a divorced mother of a teen-age girl come into her own---it is so difficult to read. The books startss with the voices of the mother and the daughter...about a 3rd of the way through another viewpoint is added. I'm about 3/4 throught this thick muddy reading and now we have the viewpoints of--a boyfriend, the ex-husband, the teen-agers girl friend, and the divorced mother's mother. Even has some thoughts from the ex-husband's best friend...more
With her formerly comfortable life in tatters, Caroline heads back home to pick up the pieces. She and 15-year-old daughter Issy are cautious around one another but realize they are in this together. Finding by perfect chance an old barn in the countryside near Oxford, and with help and support from local pub owners Maggie and Jesus, Caroline decides to open her own restaurant. Everything falls into place with a minimum of stress and work from Caroline herself, whose beauty and cooking skills op...more
Caroline Evans life has been in stasis ever since she and her daughter left their home and lives in Singapore and went back to England. She knew she couldn’t stay any longer knowing her marriage was a lie, knowing about her husband’s betrayal. The move however has many difficulties, money that she doesn’t have anymore, child-support that never seems to arrive but the most troubling is her fifteen year old daughter, Izzy’s unhappiness at leaving behind her friends, her home but most of all the fa...more
I was really touched by the bonds of friendship in this story. There were other very important relationships portrayed, but I was amazed by the way secondary characters Maggie, Jesus, and their daughter, Samantha, so quickly took in Caroline and Issy and made them part of their family. This story of a divorced mother going back to the country of her roots after a failed marriage and finally coming in to her own was very moving.
Caroline met and married James Evans in Singapore as a very young wom...more
Caroline met and married James Evans in Singapore as a very young wom...more
I have to be really honest in saying this is the same old safe storylines recycled over and over again, not only in women's lit, but also by the big house publishers, and why I tend to seek out indie authors frequently. A nice safe cookie cutter read which wraps up with a pretty red ribbon. It drives me crazy. I must state that I have a hard time with it coming from St. Martin's Press because this isn't a publisher where I normally see this (maybe I miss those books) and why I sought out to revi...more
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At the heart of it, this is a tale about mother-daughter relationships. Newly divorced Caroline Evans and her fifteen-year-old daughter Issy have moved from their plush home in Singapore to the London countryside. Here they must find their way with very little money and lots of pent up anger and doubts. They are taken in by Maggie, her husband Jesus, and daughter Samantha, who are owners of the local pub. They find friendship and a place to live, and Caroline goes to work as a cook at the pub. W...more
Caroline Evans has left her cheating husband and her high class life behind in Singapore and takes her 15 year old daughter with her. Starting over is not going to be easy but it better than living a lie.
Caroline and Issy end up Oxfordshire, England. They happen upon an English pub where owner Maggie takes them in and has Caroline cooking up a storm in the kitchen in no time. Caroline loves to cook.
Issy makes friends with Maggie's daughter but she still blames her mother for taking her away from...more
Caroline and Issy end up Oxfordshire, England. They happen upon an English pub where owner Maggie takes them in and has Caroline cooking up a storm in the kitchen in no time. Caroline loves to cook.
Issy makes friends with Maggie's daughter but she still blames her mother for taking her away from...more
Newly single Caroline, and her fifteen year old daughter Issy, enjoy a mother-daughter relationship, which is at times fraught with frustration and despair, and yet, inevitably they have a deep and abiding love for each another. After her marriage breakdown, Caroline must try to make a new life for herself and Issy. When forced to leave their home in Singapore, they travel to England, where they attempt to pick up the pieces of their shattered lives. However, Issy is a tetchy and argumentative t...more
This novel follows a divorced Mom, called Caroline Evans. She is leaving Singapore with her fifteen year old daughter Isabel, known as Issy. Singapore is the only home Issy has ever known, and she doesn’t want to leave the city, nor her father. Caroline is desperate to get away, and escape the sadness and humiliation of her husband’s cheating. She decides to return to Oxford, in the beautiful Cotswold’s where she grew up. After living with her parents for a while, they are moving to France, and...more
Maybe it's because I have too many books with holds stacked up and I'm looking for excuses to give up on a book - but I gave this one 50 pages. I was hoping it would be a nice escape - English village, a woman who cooks and is rebuilding her life - what's not to like? Well, the writing. Or editing. Or someone didn't do their job, because this is just a mess. Inaccuracies, rambling sentences, illogical jumps in plot (oh, so all of the sudden they're just living in the pub? what happened to their...more
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What in the world has happened to Adler??? Her recent efforts read like some inexperienced author trying and failing to write an Adler-style novel. I have read most of her work and there are some of my all time favorites in there. I recently read Leonie and it was like night and day in comparison to the quality of this work. Plot is shallow and leaves out so much. It is like this was an outline for another story. Characters and storyline are trite. Everything is predcitable yet unbelievable. Dia...more
One star means "I didn't like it" -- and I didn't. The main characters, Caroline and her daughter Issy, were stereotypes (the gorgeous wife rejected by the jerky husband, and the rebellious, whiny teen). The plot was unreal, and only ended up well because Caroline had three wealthy and/or highly talented men in love with her who were willing to finance or contribute to her plans, plus a family she didn't even know at the beginning of the book willing to house her and give her a job. Even the tim...more
Jul 18, 2012
Carrie
rated it
2 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
No one
Recommended to Carrie by:
Picked up as a 'Hot' read at the library.
I was looking forward to this book upon reading the storyline. I was ready for a nice story set in the English countryside. I am definitely left wanting. It was mildly entertaining, but overall the whole neat little package got to me. Everything just went along too smoothly, to the point where the 'good & bad' parts for the characters, felt unrealistic.
I also have to say that, I have a small pet peeve where authours based in a specific country set there novel in another country with their c...more
I also have to say that, I have a small pet peeve where authours based in a specific country set there novel in another country with their c...more
This is what I consider a soft read. It is a little reminiscent of Under the Tuscan Sun; however, the author weaves a little suspense into the plot. Overall, I agree that the plot revolved around a very soft, safe storyline (single mom, teenage angst, mom gets prenup settlement but its not enough, buys run-down place in the country, more teenage angst, etc.) I think the author had a good opportunity to add more with the suspense she began to write it (then it fell off in a really predictable, ru...more
Caroline Evans, along with her very unhappy fifteen year old daughter, Issy, have high-tailed it out of a very comfortable life in Singapore. Her once happy marriage had turned into shambles when she found her husband, James, cheating with another woman. Without a pre-nup and any money except for the little bit that James inconsistently sends for Issy, things are going downhill fast. Tired of their tiny rented London flat, Caroline and Issy head for the Cotswolds for the weekend, and stumble upo...more
This book requires the reader to suspend disbelief—a lot. Caroline, a recently divorced woman with a teen daughter, comes to Oxford as a stranger, happens into a pub run by Mexican immigrants who have a daughter the exact same age, everyone becomes best friends immediately, and they offer her a job. Soon after, she meets a handsome and wealthy younger local man who is instantly smitten. Ex-husband’s mistress shows up with a child she claims was his, and Caroline invites the child to live with he...more
Well, lots of people have already said it. This was just a big disappointment. I picked it up for the setting and hoping for a nice setting piece with a good relationship story. But it was just a jumble of mixed, misfitting events, with the most shallow story of trite characters in cardboard situations.
I was particularly unhappy with the lack of parenting of Issy, the teenaged daughter. Terrible messages going to her, terrible communication, no values handed to her. It was just a depressing read...more
I was particularly unhappy with the lack of parenting of Issy, the teenaged daughter. Terrible messages going to her, terrible communication, no values handed to her. It was just a depressing read...more
I wanted to like this book -- the setting in the Cotswolds, the mysterious husband left behind, the cooking, the stone house... I was ready to be charmed. But Caroline is such a flat character, and the writing is grating. One of the joys of a women's fiction book is the attention paid to what happens in between the events, and the characters who help you in that space; here, Adler feels like she skips right by it. I wanted more on Maggie and Caroline's relationship, more on why she was drawn to...more
If I were to list the different elements of this novel, the skeptical reader would scoff, crying “too many challenges, too many life changes, too many bad choices, too much luck, too little luck” etc. Adler’s narrative writing skills, however, makes all this work and draws the reader in to a story of loss and greed and power that is trumped by love and holding on to what is important. The story eventually settles in the Cotswalds where the reader meets characters you would want as your own frien...more
Sometimes I just want to read a little fluff of a book. This was one of them. It is the story of a newly divorced woman who comes back to England with her surly 15 year old daughter to make a new start. It is a rainy miserable night and they stop to eat at a little inn. The couple who run in become instant friends and they have a daughter the same age as Isabel, otherwise known as Issy.
As the story continues, there are few surprises. It is a story I've read before, just with different characte...more
As the story continues, there are few surprises. It is a story I've read before, just with different characte...more
This book is a hot mess and I was mad at myself for wasting an afternoon on it. Problems? How about huge gaps in the plot, weird chronologies, story lines that went nowhere, one-dimensional characters, changing viewpoints, and constant, useless references to this or that designer or upscale product. I had vaguely remembered liking other books by Elizabeth Adler, even though this genre isn't my usual fare, but this one needed a lot of editing. It actually read like a first draft.
Basically a romance with a strong theme of mother/daughter relationships and the strength of community. Recently divorced Caroline returns to England with 15-year-old daughter Issy and purchases an old barn near a village. Caroline dreams of opening a restaurant while Issy says she'll never live there. Oc course, there's the handsome young man, Jim, and a mystery with the murder of the ex-husband. I kept expecting a plot twist that never developed. An easy, quick, escape read.
Apr 11, 2013
Vickie
added it
Poor Caroline can't win. She finds out her husband was cheating on her so she left him with her 15 year old daughter. They go back to the London area. She buys a barn and plans on creating a restaurant. In the mean time she works at a pub. Her ex is murdered and then another woman comes to visit with a little girl. Many twists but I was disappointed on the ending. Won't give it away but a good read for a rainy day since most of the time it's raining in the book.
Parts were good but most was completely unrealistic and Adler left huge holes on the plot. I thought maybe the last few chapters had been torn from the copy I was reading. Wondering about the characters is not necessarily a bad thing but when the author opens a door to a room and the room is empty, why put the door there in the first place? The best part though was she nailed the mother-teen relationship. Did a good job of the coming-of-age sub plot.
I cannot believe how poorly written this book was. I wanted to like it but the characters were shallow and the pacing was so off that it was hard to follow. The worst part for me were the obvious mistakes and inconsistencies even a quick editing job might have caught - for example having a character decide to walk over to the place and then having him get out of the car as if he'd driven in the next paragraph. Really amateurish. Not worth the read.
Almost a 4. Sam's character needed much more depth, much, much more, and Issy needed to have more "troubles" than just your typical teenage brat stuff. Not that the stuff she did experience wasn't serious, but it just kept feeling like it was leading up to more. And the mom, forgot her name already, only made it because she had wealthy men looking after her. Aggravating. The bonds of friendship in the story were very touching, however, and it was enjoyable and easy to read.
This is a light read, nothing serious for sure! If you like stories that taken place in England, you will probably like this. It's about a divorced woman who returns to her home in England after living in Singapore with her cheating husband. She and her teenage daughter end up buying a home and turning part of it into a restaurant. There is a mystery as well, as her ex-husband turns up dead of an apparent suicide. If you don't expect too much great literature, this is a fun read.
A very quick & easy read about a mother & her teenaged daughter, who return to England ayear & a half after a divorce. The two end up in the Cotswolds & make best friends immediately. I felt the character development was poor & the story was very predictable. I would recommend this book for a vacation or as a airplane book, especially if you enjoy thinking about the English countryside.
I liked it..... This was an easy read, one I could quickly blow through. You do have to suspend a little bit of reality as you read it. Some events were questionable, others weren't always explained particularly well. Sometimes the author would jump ahead in time and it would leave you a little confused. But the story was interesting, the characters likeable, there was a little romance, a little mystery. An enjoyable read.
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Born in Yorkshire, North England, Elizabeth Adler met in London her future husband, Richard, a American. They had lived in England, Ireland, France, Brazil, and USA. Today, the had one daughter and live in Palm Springs, California. Her first novel, Private Desires, launched an enormously successful writing career, she also wrote as Ariana Scott. She has now written over twenty internationally accl...more
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