The Mulberry Tree
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- £2.99
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- £2.99
Publisher Description
Lillian Manville, the devoted wife of business titan Jimmie Manville, had always taken the blessings of her life for granted - until the devastating news of Jimmie's death turns everything upside down. Lillian is bewildered to learn that Jimmie has willed her nothing but the rundown farmhouse of his Virginia childhood and left his fortune to his greedy brother and sister. All Lillian has now is a house she's never seen - and Jimmie's cryptic note alluding to a mysterious scandal that had haunted her late husband since his Virginia boyhood: 'Find out the truth about what happened will you? Do it for me. And wherever you are, whatever you do, remember that I love you.'
To escape the relentless paparazzi hounding her in the wake of her husband's death, Lillian changes her name, gives herself a dramatic makeover and sets herself up in the old Manville farmhouse. She has no inkling that these transformations merely mark the start of a thrilling journey of discovery about her own resilience, about the endurance of love - and about the shocking secret that plagued the dark corners of her husband's mind.
Luminous and inspiring, THE MULBERRY TREE is sure to captivate readers everywhere.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Perennially bestselling romance writer Deveraux's newest (put out by Atria, S&S's new hardcover imprint) tells the story of a 33-year-old woman's successful remaking of her life and self-image after the sudden death of her beloved husband, Jimmie, who was a combination of business tycoon and Mafia honcho. Pampered Lillian Manville is bustled away in the middle of the night and informed that she was cut almost entirely from Jimmie's will. Rather than a portion of his billions, he bequeathed her an old farmhouse in Virginia and a cryptic note referring to "the truth about what happened." Retreating to lick her wounds, Lillian begins to carve out a new life for herself and investigate the mystery of Jimmy's past. As she uncovers the town's buried secrets, she also discovers that Jimmy deliberately created a role for her as his mousy wife and kept her trapped there. As she breaks out of her shell, she loses weight, restyles herself and starts a cooking business with the townswomen, who grudgingly begin to accept her presence. Bailey (as Lillian renames herself) is infectiously enthusiastic yet just insecure enough to make her pathbreaking corporate organization of her neighbors and her concerns about her involvement with Matt, the inevitable eligible bachelor, ring true. There is nothing particularly surprising in this novel, but Deveraux's touch is gold, and her protagonist combines innocent appeal with wry experience in a way that readers will surely find irresistible.
