Stately Pursuits
From the #1 bestselling author of uplifting feel-good fiction
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4.3 • 3 Ratings
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- $10.99
Publisher Description
Just the thing for a broken heart. A wonderfully romantic novel from the No. 1 Sunday Times bestselling author of Wedding Season, A Wedding in Provence and The Perfect Match.
'The queen of uplifting, feel good romance' AJ PEARCE
'Katie Fforde is on sparkling form' INDEPENDENT
'Top-drawer romantic escapism' DAILY MAIL
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'I don't suppose you'd care to house-sit for a while...'
Hetty Longden's mother thinks that looking after Great Uncle Samuel's crumbling stately home will be just the thing for Hetty's broken heart. Hetty doesn't mind; at least she can be miserable in private.
But 'private' is a relative term in a village which revolves around the big house. Particularly when you are expected to thwart Great Uncle Samuel's awful heir, and his nefarious plans for his inheritance.
Pitchforked into the community's fight to save the manor, Hetty has no time to wallow. And once she has shared her troubles with one neighbour (Caroline: a very understanding shoulder, despite her glamorous appearance and impossibly long legs), and cast an appreciative eye over another (Peter: equally long-legged, but offering rather more practical help), she wonders if her heart is irretrievably broken after all...
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Readers can't get enough of Stately Pursuits:
'A great weekend read! So much fun and totally romantic.' 5-star reader review
'This story gave a me a warm feeling from the first word!' 5-star reader review
'I couldn't put it down.' 5-star reader review
'This is by far my favourite Katie Fforde book!' 5-star reader review
'Everyone should read at least one Katie Fforde book. Because I believe everyone needs to be able to laugh out loud while they read.' 5-star reader review
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cheery, good-natured and predictable, British writer Fforde's latest stylish romance (after Wild Designs) relates the story of a young, freshly jilted and heartbroken protagonist, Hetty Longden, who gets more than she bargained for when she agrees to house-sit for her ailing elderly uncle Samuel while he is hospitalized. Hetty finds Courtbridge, Samuel's stately manor home, in desperate need of renovation; moreover, Samuel is deeply in debt. Even more threatening than loan officers, though, is Connor Barrabin, Samuel's gruff and irascible heir (known as "Conan the Barbarian" to locals), who intends to raze the house and erect a theme park on the property as soon as Courtbridge comes into his possession. Hetty, like the other residents of the small English village, is horrified by the potential loss of this piece of their national heritage and is determined instead to fix up the stately home and open it to the paying public for tours and parties. Rallying the help of the multitalented townsfolk and the local Brownie troop, plucky Hetty gets the house in shape, meanwhile managing to rebuild her shattered confidence and make some wonderful new friends. Also, not surprisingly, Hetty finds a sensitive and loving man beneath Connor's abrasive exterior, and the two fall in love despite their opposing views about the fate of the house. Although the plot isn't terribly imaginative, the novel has a warm and fuzzy charm, some nice comic scenes and the usual romantic contretemps.
