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Pastoral fiction

  • Author:
    Berry, Wendell
    Summary:

    In the latest installment in Wendell Berry's long story about the citizens of Port William, Kentucky, readers learn of the Coulters' children, of the Feltners and Branches, and how survivors "live right on." "Ignorant boys, killing each other," is just about all Nathan Coulter would tell his wife about the Battle of Okinawa in the spring of 1945. Life carried on for the community of Port William, Kentucky, as some boys returned from the war while the lives of others were mourned. In her seventies, Nathan's wife, Hannah, now has time to tell of the years since the war.

  • Author:
    Chute, B.J.
    Summary:

    In Greenwillow, B.J. Chute has woven a tale of loyalty, love and humor into a timeless classic. Set in the whimsical town of Greenwillow, Chute’s characters are eccentric and irresistible—there is sweet Dorie who bakes bilberry tarts and dreams of a happy ending; the cow that kneels down at Christmas; two Reverends battling over good and evil—and Gideon, who loves the land with a passion we can only envy. Chute has an extraordinary gift for using words in an usual way that lends character to her descriptions and gives her writing an entirely unique voice. Her language is lyrical and utterly delightful. Perhaps B.J. Chute's best-known novel, a critic described Greenwillow as "a deeply moving, gently humorous and serenely wise story of young love and self-discovery." Greenwillow was brought to the Broadway stage in 1960, starring Anthony Perkins, with book by Lesser Samuels and Frank Loesser, and music and lyrics by Frank Loesser.

  • Author:
    Donnelly, Mary Rose
    Summary:

    Retired schoolteacher Flossy O’Reilly has spent almost all of her eight decades in the seaside community of Great Village, Nova Scotia. It is now a quiet Maritime village: where relationships between friends and family move at the pace of the tides; where there is no rush because, sooner or later, everyone finds out what they need to know with a trip to the general store. When Ruth, the teenaged granddaughter of an old friend, arrives from Ontario for a three-week stay, time suddenly catches up with Great Village. As Flossy watches the sometimes tactless young woman grow into her own, she begins to question whether maintaining the calm surface of her life was worth keeping secrets from and about those closest to her — or if everyone could benefit from a little more candour. With grace, patience, and wisdom, Mary Rose Donnelly paints a rich portrait of life in small-town Nova Scotia, and of relationships as charming as they are complex.

  • Author:
    Andrews, William
    Summary:

    William Andrews' first novel examines life in a small PEI community in the 1940s and 50s as changes, so common in the rest of the world, begin to take hold. Using a road as an allegory, he weaves a lyrical tale of simple country people, their struggles and their joys. The story is told through the eyes of a boy called Jake: he is the witness to life on the Hook Road and the events that change that life forever. In The Grand Change the people and the world they inhabit are richly and meticulously described.

  • Author:
    Taylor, Patrick
    Summary:

    Fans of Taylor's bestselling Irish Country novels know Dr. Fingal Flahertie O'Reilly as the irascible senior partner of a general practice in the colorful Irish village of Ballybucklebo. Newly married to his once long-lost sweetheart, he's ready to settle into domestic bliss, but there's always something requiring his attention, be it a riding accident, a difficult patient with a worrisome heart condition, a spot of grouse-hunting, or even some tricky shenanigans at the local dog races. The everyday complications of village life are very different from the challenges Fingal faced nearly thirty years earlier, when fresh out of medical school, the young Dr. O'Reilly accepts a post at the Aungier Street Dispensary, tending to the impoverished denizens of Dublin's tenement slums. Yet even as he tries to make a difference, Fingal's tireless devotion to his patients may cost him his own true love...' Shifting back and forth between the present and the past, Patrick Taylor's captivating Fingal O'Reilly, Irish Doctor, brings to life both the green young man O'Reilly once was and the canny village doctor listeners have come to know and admire.

  • Author:
    Hardy, Thomas
    Summary:

    I shall do one thing in this life - one thing for certain - that is, love you, and long for you, and keep wanting you till I die.'

    Gabriel Oak is only one of three suitors for the hand of the beautiful and spirited Bathsheba Everdene. He must compete with the dashing young soldier Sergeant Troy and respectable, middle-aged Farmer Boldwood. And while their fates depend upon the choice Bathsheba makes, she discovers the
    terrible consequences of an inconstant heart.

    Far from the Madding Crowd was the first of Hardy's novels to give the name of Wessex to the landscape of south-west England, and the first to gain him widespread popularity as a novelist. Set against the backdrop of the unchanging natural cycle of the year, the story both upholds and questions
    rural values with a startlingly modern sensibility. This new edition retains the critical text that restores previously deleted and revised passages.

  • Author:
    Wharton, Edith
    Summary:

    Set deep in the remote countryside of Massachusetts, New England, in a world of small-town prejudice, pettiness and rural poverty, the story of Ethan Frome explores the crippling marriage of a young man to an older woman and his love for her vibrant young cousin, Mattie, who lives as a dependent in the Frome household. His feelings lead to a day of explosive emotions with tragic consequences. Published in 1911, two years before Wharton divorced her husband, the novel integrates the raw experiences of the author's own life to create a powerful tale of the tragic destruction of innocent love, in a stark, compressed and unified form. Over time, the book has gained the reputation of being Edith Wharton's best work.

  • Author:
    Montgomery, L. M.
    Summary:

    Emily Starr is orphaned after her father dies and is sent to live with her snobbish Aunt Elizabeth at New Moon Farms. It is not long before she starts to make new friends, and slowly grows to love her new family and the amazing New Moon Farm.

  • Author:
    ANGEL, Nicholas
    Summary:

    With dreams of moving to a house by the sea haunting their every day, Milvern and his wife Michelle, owners of a riverside property in a small outback farming community, struggle with drought, friends, adversaries and the wrenchingly familiar rural cycle of despair and hope.

  • Author:
    Ripslinger, Jon
    Summary:

    Wendell "Stony" Stoneking is not one to worry. Everyone likes him. His girlfriend is gorgeous and very willing to please-anytime, anywhere. He is the star of his high school football team. And when he graduates, there's a steady job in the gravel quarry waiting for him. Then he meets Robyn, a single mom with a dark past. Suddenly Stony is more bothered than he has been in a long time-not only by the violence Robyn has endured, but by the danger she could put him in. For the first time, Stony reflects on his own life, his broken family, and the dizzying notion of a wide-open future. Evocatively set in rural Iowa, Derailed is the story of what happens when you open your eyes and start to care enough to risk everything.

  • Author:
    Warren, Dianne
    Summary:

    Juliet, Saskatchewan sits at the edge of the Little Snake sand hills. The heart of the town beats in the rich and overlapping stories of its people, and their stories bring the prairie desert and the town to vivid and enduring life. This wonderfully entertaining, witty and deeply felt novel brims with forgiveness as its flawed people stumble towards the future.

  • Author:
    Owens, Zahra
    Summary:

    Flynn Tomlinson has drifted for several years, working odd jobs when he needs the money and moving on when he doesn’t. He’s content with his freestyle life, not tied down, not responsible for anyone but himself. Then he comes across a Help Wanted ad in a post office in Idaho and meets Gable Sutton. Gable can’t pay Flynn until he sells his horses, but a serious accident has left him unable to work his ranch alone. Working with horses beats stacking shelves at the supermarket, and so Flynn agrees to Gable’s terms. What Flynn doesn’t bargain for is being captivated by this gentle, lonely man who captures his heart and moves Flynn to take on an incredible burden: saving Gable’s ranch.

  • Author:
    White, E. B.
    Summary:

    Brought to life by Meryl Streep and a full cast, this beloved book by E.B. White, author of Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, is a classic of children's literature that is "just about perfect."*Some Pig. Humble. Radiant. These are the words in Charlotte's Web, high up in Zuckerman's barn. Charlotte's spider web tells of her feelings for a little pig named Wilbur, who simply wants a friend. They also express the love of a girl named Fern, who saved Wilbur's life when he was born the runt of his litter. E.B. White's Newbery Honor Book is a tender novel of friendship, love, life, and death that will continue to be enjoyed by generations to come. Includes an appreciation written and read by Caldecott Honor winner Melissa Sweet, the cover artist of this edition and author/illustrator of Some Writer!: The Story of E.B. White. Narrated by Meryl Streep featuring:January LaVoy as CHARLOTTE Kirby Heyborne as WILBUR MacLeod Andrews as TEMPLETON with additional performances by: Mark Bramhall as LURVY Scott Brick as THE MINISTER Cassandra Campbell as EDITH ZUCKERMAN Danny Campbell as HOMER ZUCKERMAN Mark Deakins as MR. ARABLE Kimberly Farr as MRS. ARABLE Tavia Gilbert as THE GOOSE Dion Graham as THE GANDER Almarie Guerra as NELLIE Johnny Heller as THE FAIR ANNOUNCER Lincoln Hoppe as AVERY Raymond Lee as THE BABY SPIDER Robin Miles as THE OLD SHEEP Adenrele Ojo as ARANEA Ray Porter as UNCLE THE PIG Emily Rankin as FERN John Rubinstein as DR. DORIAN Bahni Turpin as THE LAMB Julia Whelan as JOY

  • Author:
    White, E. B.
    Summary:

    For decades, E.B. White's charming, bittersweet tales of friendship and adventure have enchanted audiences young and old alike. The magic of "Charlotte's web" comes to life in a delightful-and completely unabridged-recording, read by the author himself. As moving and eloquent as ever, this classic tale will captivate listeners

  • Author:
    Porteous, R. S.
    Summary:

    Old Ben McReady from the Australian Outback has lived a full life and now aged more than 80 he relives it from his bed. It was a warm hearted and generous life... Cattle-duffing and living off the country at first, then WWI in Europe and the death of his first son with him there. Then the Outback again and establishing his cattle station of Wavering Downs over forty years of very hard work, with wealth at last as a cattle owner and pleasure in the horse races.

  • Author:
    Steinbeck, John
    Summary:

    Cannery Row focuses on the acceptance of life as is--both the exuberance of community and the loneliness of the individual. Creating characters based on his memories of real inhabitants of Monterey, California, Steinbeck interweaves the stories of Doc, Henri, Mack, and the boys in a world where only the fittest survive.

  • Author:
    Kauffman, Donna
    Summary:

    Pippa MacMillan is a legend on the Irish folk music scene. But when her voice requires a time-out, she's left wondering how - and where - to find happiness in the silence ... Seeking answers, Pippa leaves Ireland in favor of a small town in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Turns out lovely Blue Hollow Falls is the perfect place to heal - and solitary Seth Brogan is the surprisingly perfect host. After all, Seth is beginning again too: turning his renovated stone barn and beautiful hillside into a vineyard is the start of a whole new life for the former Special Forces soldier. Only Mother Nature keeps thwarting both their plans, leaving Pippa snowbound with unsettling thoughts about how life can take unexpected turns ... To Pippa's surpsie, she might actually fall for small-town living. She might even fall for Seth, whose quiet strength is a balm for her world-weary soul. But when the music starts once more, will she follow her fortune back to Ireland, or surrender to the call of her heart?

  • Author:
    Trigiani, Adriana
    Summary:

    Au cœur de la chaîne des Blue Mountains, en Virginie, la petite ville de Big Stone Gap abrite les personnages excentriques les plus charmants de l’État. Ave Maria Mulligan, une pharmacienne de trente-cinq ans au physique de «fille des montagnes», s’est d’ailleurs elle-même octroyé le titre de «vieille fille du village». Elle y mène une vie agréable avec de bons amis et de nombreux passe-temps jusqu’au jour fatidique de 1978 où elle découvre qu’elle n’est pas celle qu’elle avait toujours cru être. Du jour au lendemain, elle doit refuser les demandes en mariage, éloigner les membres de la parenté devenus envieux, organiser la visite d’une célébrité au village et planifier le voyage de ses rêves, un séjour en Italie, qui pourrait à tout jamais changer sa vision du monde et de Big Stone Gap. Débordant d’humour et de sages notions sur la vie rurale, ce livre est un petit bijou avec un cœur immense!

  • Author:
    Shute, Nevil
    Summary:

    When American geologist, Stanton Laird, goes to outback Australia to drill for oil, he meets wealthy Mollie Regan. A triangle of conflict develops between her, Laird and a struggling sheep farmer.

  • Author:
    Bruneau, Carol
    Summary:

    Uprooted, longing for love and to feel somehow situated, Willa Jackson flees life as a military wife when she meets Hugh, the lighthouse keeper on McNabs Island in Halifax Harbour. The object of her fantasies, a musician, he's the last of a dying breed in this story set during the final days of lightkeeping before automation. Romanced by this magical location-so close to the city and its lively communities, yet so remote-she involves her ten-year-old son, Alex, in her escape. Things sour when isolation and Hugh, harbourer of secrets deadlier than she can imagine, turn as brutal as the forces of nature-and of self-deception-that threaten to engulf all three. A tender yet heartbreaking story of one woman's reckoning.

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