The first Lawana Blackwell novel I ever read was a contemporary piece which I included as a blog toward the beginning of my career here at Families.com. I found this novel, “The Widow of Larkspur Inn,” at the library last week and was glad to find it, although it’s not what I usually choose to read. It’s a period piece set in 1869-1870 in England, and is a romance/drama.
Julia Hollis has just been left a widow with three children to care for. In the midst of her grief, she finds out that her husband has left her with considerable gambling debt and that she and her children must leave their home and nearly everything in it. The only thing left to them is an old inn in Grisham, a dairy village far from the life in London they are used to. She knows she has no choice, and so they set off for the country, taking with them only one servant, Fiona, who has chosen to come out of devotion and duty, knowing that the family can’t afford to pay her.
When they arrive in Grisham, they find the inn to be in a terrible state of disrepair, and covered in cobwebs. To make matters worse, it’s rumored to be haunted. Julia can’t waste time on self-pity, however, and immediately sets to work cleaning things up. Only a few days go by before the inn is in working order, and she and Fiona decide to open it up to boarders in the hope of earning a living that way.
Wallpaper, paint and carpets later, they are ready to open for business. At first they aren’t so sure about the strange and assorted crew of people they collect. First the irascible and cantankerous Mrs. Kingston, then the depressed and melancholy Mr. Clay, followed by a tittering romance writer, a sentimental widow, and an absent-minded herbalist make up their household. Julia’s focus quickly turns from her husband to the cares of her boarders, and she finds that the more she thinks about serving others, the less she thinks about the way in which she was betrayed.
Many subplots run through the story, some of them admittedly predictable (like the conversion of Mr. Clay) but Mrs. Kingston keeps things fresh and interesting. I do wish that the romance had been a little more, well, romantic, but the love stories were sweet and the characters were entertaining. This book is the first in a series called the Gresham Chronicles, and I’m pretty sure I’ll be picking up the next one.
(This book was published by Bethany House in 1998.)
Related Blogs:
A Table by the Window — Lawana Blackwell