Thursday, January 21, 2016

Come Rain or Come Shine




  

I just finished reading the new Mitford novel by Jan Karon, "Come Rain or Come Shine".  This book is the latest in a long series of books about Father Tim Kavanagh, an Episcopal priest in North Carolina.  This series has followed Father Tim through many life experiences and chronicles life in a small NC town.  I discovered the books in the mid-1990's at Book Stop (remember Book Stop?) and asked for the boxed set of the first three for Christmas.  I was completely taken in from the beginning and have read, and own, each and every book.

The latest book, "Come Rain or Come Shine" chronicles the wedding of Dooley Kavanagh and Lace Harper.  Dooley and Lace were both "lost" children until they found love and nurture with two of the towns families.  Coming from such dire backgrounds and being old enough to know what was happening with them, they grew to adulthood with strong ideas of how they wanted their lives to be and they set out to make them that way -- together.

In this latest work, Karon takes the whole crew to Meadowgate Farm for the wedding of the year! There are kids, cows, chickens, the Flower Sisters, Choo-Choo, Harley's teeth, strong winds and the threat of rain.  There is music by the Ham Biscuits and dancing on the porch -- a pot luck reception in the barn.  It actually sounded, to me, like the perfect venue!

There were nerves, tears, fears, apologies -- accepted and not accepted -- and bride hysteria over the dress.

And there was Jack Tyler.

Enough said -- read the book and draw your own conclusions but I found it to be completely charming.  I will add that it is helpful if you read the series from the beginning because as this series progresses there are many references to prior books that you almost have to know in order to put the pieces together.  So, if you haven't read them, start at the beginning. These aren't long reads but so satisfying.

Update

 Ok, so we visited our cardiologist yesterday to get the lay of the land for the Hubs.  Seems there is an issue with one of the grafts from ...