The Talk of the Town
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- USD 3.99
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- USD 3.99
Publisher Description
Luke Bauer is an ex-con, a man Roxie Mitchell has been warned to avoid. Yet she hires him, daring to offer him a second chance even as gossip mushrooms in the small Missouri town to which she has also recently returned.
Roxie has to admit that something more than compassion has compelled her to act. Luke is an underdog—and a man she finds hard to resist. She’s his only friend—the woman he tries not to touch. But their daily lunches, their growing bonds, have not been ignored by friend or by foe. Soon they will both be tested. And soon they will have to make a choice between the passion they can no longer deny and the town that will neither forgive nor forget.
Set in 1933, a time of terrible hardship, uncommon strength and dreams of a better day, The Talk of the Town is the first in a series of Depression-era books that are named for popular period songs.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this engaging first in a new Depression-era series from Baker (Miss Francie's Folly), rebellious bookkeeper Roxie Mitchell returns from St. Louis to her parents' house in Blue Ridge, Mo., determined to keep her independence by working as a manager at the local clothing warehouse. Meanwhile, Luke Bauer has just come back from a stint in the big house. When hardly anyone in town is willing to extend the handsome ex-con a kind hand, Roxie impulsively offers Luke a menial job in the warehouse. From their lunch exchanges a trusting friendship emerges. While lonely Luke sees Roxie as perfection, underneath she carries her St. Louis secrets, though these don't prevent her from falling for Luke. Her overprotective brothers and gossipy friends, of course, disapprove. This delightfully steamy read speaks right to the heart of romance lovers.
