This is a lovely book, totally different and beautifully constructed.
A lonely young Swedish woman arrives in the run down Iowa town of Broken Wheel, to meet up with an elderly lady with whom she has corresponded mainly about books and the town for years.
The woman has died when she arrives. She stays and gradually gets to know all the inhabitants and their histories, opens a bookshop in the old lady’s memory and falls in love with one of the townsfolk, although his reaction to her is mixed.
All sorts of (mainly good) things happen to the town following her arrival, but she is on a holiday visa and will have to go back to Sweden. The townsfolk don’t welcome this and arrange a marriage for her to the man she loves and they eventually discover their mutual love after the ceremony, which is almost prevented by the immigration bureaucracy.
Sounds very corny and I haven’t described it well – there are lots of shades and echoes of Jane Austen and Bridget Jones. Paul Scott apart, one of my books of the year.
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