Moyes, a young Brit, again proves herself a worthy successor to Maeve Binchy and Rosamund Pilcher with her second novel (after Sheltering Rain), a warmhearted drama. A magnificent art deco house called Arcadia, built on a seaside cliff in the stuffy English village of Merham, stands at the center of her tale. Lottie Swift was born in London's East End but evacuated during WWII to Merham as a child; she's eventually taken in permanently by the Holden family and brought up in their bustling household just down the road from Arcadia. When Lottie is in her late teens, an exotic clan of bohemians move into Arcadia, and Lottie takes to visiting, sometimes with Celia Holden, her best friend, but more often on her own. Then Celia goes away to school in London and comes back with a fianc -a man Lottie believes is her destiny. Her love is doomed, but Arcadia provides unexpected solace. Half a century later, interior designer Daisy Parsons comes to Arcadia, hired by a successful but prickly London developer who has bought the house with plans for making it into a fashionable tourist destination. Daisy's longtime lover and design partner has just departed after their baby is born, but she conquers self-pity and determines to honor the contract by herself. She's befriended by Lottie, now an acerbic matron who scorns her village contemporaries but is charmed by the baby and volunteers to act as nanny. Moyes deftly handles her involved plot, skillfully exploring the different family dynamics; her thoughtful tone and light touch make this a delightful read. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Windfallen
Narrated by Michelle Ford
Jojo MoyesUnabridged — 14 hours, 52 minutes
Windfallen
Narrated by Michelle Ford
Jojo MoyesUnabridged — 14 hours, 52 minutes
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Overview
Years later, another young woman comes to Merham. A designer hired to make over the now-empty Arcadia, Daisy Parsons seeks a new beginning, as Lottie once did. Fleeing a broken relationship, Daisy finds refuge at Arcadia, and something more-a love she thought she would never know again.
Editorial Reviews
The sleepy English seaside town of Merham flaunts an architectural jewel, the art-deco Arcadia House. In the 1950s, it becomes home to a "bohemian" group, who attract Lottie, a displaced teenager staying with their very conventional neighbors. Lottie soon develops a passion for an unavailable young man; their forbidden love is captured by an artist in a mural on Arcadia's exterior. A generation later, the beauty of Arcadia (now abandoned) draws another young woman, who has been hired to restore and decorate the home as an upscale hotel. Daisy has her own share of male-induced heartaches and is befriended by the now-matronly and bitter Lottie, seller of the estate. Daisy's struggles include community opposition to the renovation, an antagonistic boss, and single parenthood. The old mural at Arcadia is eventually uncovered and with it, Lottie's secret. Both Lottie and Daisy come to terms with old love relationships and are finally able to trade the past for a more promising future. A delicious read by the author of Sheltering Rain; highly recommended.-Carol Bissett, New Braunfels P.L., TX Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
…a tremendously gifted storyteller…” — Paula McLain, New York Times bestselling author of The Paris Wife
“In a style reminiscent of Maeve Binchy, Jojo Moyes explores the multigenerational impact of missteps and untold truths.” — Romantic Times BOOKclub
“[Moyes’s] thoughtful tone and light touch make this a delightful read.” — Publishers Weekly
“This is a remarkable first novel, rich and deep and full of wonderfully realized characters. Oh, these women!” — Anne Rivers Siddons
“I enjoyed [Sheltering Rain] very much.” — Rosamunde Pilcher
“Accomplished debut...in style and substance Moyes is a worthy addition to [Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy’s] ranks....Fluidly paced and cast with engaging characters.” — Booklist
Accomplished debut...in style and substance Moyes is a worthy addition to [Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy’s] ranks....Fluidly paced and cast with engaging characters.
In a style reminiscent of Maeve Binchy, Jojo Moyes explores the multigenerational impact of missteps and untold truths.
…a tremendously gifted storyteller…
This is a remarkable first novel, rich and deep and full of wonderfully realized characters. Oh, these women!
I enjoyed [Sheltering Rain] very much.
Accomplished debut...in style and substance Moyes is a worthy addition to [Rosamunde Pilcher and Maeve Binchy’s] ranks....Fluidly paced and cast with engaging characters.
"[Moyes's] thoughtful tone and light touch make this a delightful read." —Publishers Weekly
08/01/2014
Michelle Ford confidently narrates Moyes's (One Plus One) novel, originally published in 2003 and available in audio for the first time. Several stories of loss and redemption intersect around Arcadia, a beautiful art deco house on the outskirts of the English coastal village of Merham. Dark-haired Lottie, evacuated from London during the war, is embraced by the Holden family and raised as one of their own. Pampered, pretty, and loving Celia Holden becomes Lottie's best friend and surrogate sister. As they mature, the adventurous and rebellious Celia leads the more timid Lottie to friendship with a group of bohemian artists and poets renting Arcadia. While Celia soon cools to them, the artists open Lottie's eyes to the possibilities of a broader life. But disaster strikes when Lottie falls in love with Celia's fiancé and he with her. Fast-forward 50 years, and Daisy Parsons, baby in tow and smarting from her own disappointment in love, comes to the long-empty Arcadia to renovate it into a luxury hotel. Lottie becomes a great support to fragile Daisy as she begins to heal and grow. VERDICT Maeve Binchy fans will enjoy this old-fashioned love story, full of betrayals and misunderstandings, told with great respect and affection for all the characters. ["A delicious read by the author of Sheltering Rain; highly recommended," read the review of the Morrow hc, LJ 4/15/03.]—Judy Murray, Monroe Cty. Lib. Syst., Temperance, MI
The silvery voice of Michelle Ford is perfect for this engaging romance set in the seaside town of Merham and filled with appealing characters. Ford’s well-paced reading captures the nuances of time and place as the residential Arcadia House comes under fire throughout several generations. At the heart of the novel are Lottie and Daisy, whose stories are told with aplomb. Ford handles abrupt shifts in point of view without confusion as the story moves between characters and time periods. Moyes has crafted a generational story of love and finding oneself, and Ford's appealing delivery keeps the listener engaged. M.N.T. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940171212766 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Tantor Audio |
| Publication date: | 03/10/2014 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
Read an Excerpt
Windfallen
Chapter One
Freddie had been ill again. Grass this time, apparently. It sat in a foaming, emerald pool in the corner by the tallboy, some of the blades still intact.
"How many times do I have to tell you, you dolt," shrieked Celia, who had just trodden in it while wearing her summer sandals. "You are not a horse."
"Or a cow," added Sylvia helpfully from the kitchen table, where she was sticking pictures of domestic appliances laboriously into a scrapbook.
"Or any bloody animal. You should be eating bread, not grass. Cake. Normal things." Celia picked her shoe from her foot and held it by two fingers over the kitchen sink. "Ugh. You're disgusting. Why do you keep doing this? Mummy, tell him. He should at least clean it up."
"Do wipe it up, Frederick dear." Mrs. Holden, seated in the high-backed chair by the fire, was checking the newspaper for the timing of the next broadcast of Dixon of Dock Green. It had provided one of her few compensations since the resignation of Mr. Churchill. And that latest business with her husband. Although of course she mentioned only Mr. Churchill.
Both she and Mrs. Antrobus, she told Lottie, had watched all the episodes so far, and thought the program simply marvelous. Then again, she and Mrs. Antrobus were the only people on Woodbridge Avenue with televisions, and they took some delight in telling their neighbors quite how marvelous nearly all the programs were.
"Clean it up, Freddie. Ugh. Why do I have to have a brother who eats animal food?"
Freddie sat on the floor by the unlit fire, pushing a small blue truck backward and forward along the rug, lifting the corners as he did so. "It's not animal food," he muttered contentedly. "God said to eat it."
"Mummy, now he's taking the name of the Lord in vain."
"You shouldn't say 'God,'" said Sylvia, firmly, as she stuck a food mixer onto mauve sugar paper. "He 'll strike you down."
"I'm sure God didn't actually say grass, Freddie dear," said Mrs. Holden distractedly. "Celie darling, could you pass me my glasses before you leave? I'm sure they're making the print smaller in these newspapers."
Lottie stood patiently by the door. It had been rather a wearing afternoon, and she was desperate to get out. Mrs. Holden had insisted that she and Celia help her prepare some meringues for the church sale, despite the fact that both girls loathed baking, and Celia had somehow managed to extricate herself after just ten minutes by pleading a headache. So Lottie had had to listen to Mrs. Holden's fretting about egg whites and sugar and pretend not to notice when she did that anxious fluttery thing with her hands and her eyes filled with tears, and now, finally, the horrid things were baked and safely in their tins, shrouded in greaseproof paper, and -- surprise, surprise -- Celia's headache had miraculously disappeared.
Celia placed her shoe back on her foot and motioned to Lottie that they should leave. She pulled her cardigan around her shoulders and straightened her hair briskly in the mirror.
"Now, girls, where are you going?"
"To the coffeehouse."
"To the park."
Celia and Lottie spoke at the same time and stared at each other in mute accusatory alarm.
"We're going to both," said Celia firmly. "Park first, then for a coffee."
"They're going off to kiss boys," said Sylvia, still bent over her sticking. She had pulled the end of one plait into her mouth, and the end, which emerged periodically, was silkily wet. "MMMMMMwaahhh. Mwah. Mwah. Eeyuk. Kissing."
"Well, don't drink too much of it. You know it makes you go all unnecessary. Lottie dear, make sure Celia doesn't drink too much of it. Two cups maximum. And be back by six-thirty."
"In Bible class God says the earth will provide," said Freddie, looking up.
"And look how sick you got when you ate that," said Celia. "I can't believe you're not making him clean it up, Mummy. He gets away with everything."
Mrs. Holden accepted her glasses and placed them slowly on her nose. She wore the look of someone who was just about managing to stay afloat in rough seas by insisting against all evidence that she was actually on dry land.
"Freddie, go and ask Virginia to bring a cloth, will you? There's a good boy. And Celia dear, don't be horrid. Lottie, straighten up your blouse, dear. You've gone peculiar. Now, girls, you're not going off to gawp at our new arrival, are you? We don't want her thinking the residents of Merham are some kind of peasants, standing there with their mouths hanging open."
There was a brief silence, during which Lottie saw Celia's ears flush ever so slightly pink. Her own were not even warm; she had perfected her denials over many years and against tougher interrogators.
"We'll come straight home from the coffeehouse, Mrs. Holden," said Lottie. Which could, of course, have meant anything at all.
Windfallen. Copyright © by Jojo Moyes. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved. Available now wherever books are sold.Videos
