A Light in the Window by Jan Karon
Mitford Series #2
Fiction
1995 Penguin Books
Finished on April 17, 1998
Rating: 4/5 (Very Good)
Publisher's Blurb:
His attractive neighbor is tugging at his heartstrings. A wealthy widow is pursuing him with hot casseroles. And his red-haired Cousin Meg has moved into the rectory, uninvited.
As you can see, Mitford's rector and lifelong bachelor, Father Tim, is in need of divine intervention. In this beautifully crafted second novel in the Mitford series, Jan Karon delivers a love story that's both heartwarming and hilarious. Only time will tell if the village parson can practice what he preaches.
Like At Home in Mitford, the first novel in the series, this book is filled with the miracles and mysteries of everyday life. And the affirmation of what some of us already know: Life in a small town is rarely quiet. And absolutely never boring.
My Original Notes (1998):
Wonderful! I love these books and think Karon is a talented writer. I feel like I know these people, feeling their happiness, sadness, hopes and fears.
My Current Thoughts:
I don't remember very many details in the Mitford series books, so I flipped through my copy of A Light in the Window and found a Post-It Note marking the following:
The snow has left the cottage top;
Thatch-moss grows in brighter green;
And eaves in quick succession drop,
Where grinning icicles have been,
Pit-patting with a pleasant noise
In tubs set by the cottage door;
While ducks and geese, with happy joys,
Plunge in the yard-pond brimming o'er.
The sun peeps through the window pane;
Which children mark with laughing eye,
And in the wet street steal again
To tell each other spring is nigh.
~ John Clare
Lovely. I'm eager to give this book a second reading.
Nan suggested these books to me years ago and I read several of them. I think I was in a bad patch emotionally. Anyway, I have been thinking of trying them again. I've been a doing some rereading in the last few days and am enjoying it enormously. It feels very comfortable.
ReplyDeleteKay, I know I didn't love all of the books in the series, but the first few are definitely on my re-read list! I've been re-reading quite a few books since retirement and finding it very enjoyable. It's like visiting old friends.
DeleteHow many books are in this series? I remember reading several and I may have mentioned this before but I think that was my problem. My book group was reading them one after another and I think we got a bit burnt out but I did love the characters and just found them to be comfort reads so I wouldn't mind checking them out now that so many years have passed.
ReplyDeleteIliana, I was a little confused about the number of books in this series when I check the author's website, but found this on a "book series in order" website: "The Mitford years officially begins with ‘At Home in Mitford’; published in 1994, the novel introduces the original players and the lives they lead, continuing to add and subtract characters as the series progresses, finally ending with ‘Somewhere Safe with Somebody good’, the last novel in the series, published in 2014." and "There are seven novels in the series, this not including Jan’s companion works to The Mitford years such as cook books. While The Mitford Years series officially ends with the seventh book, the story doesn’t quite come to a close with this final novel." I agree that reading these back-to-back might diminish one's enjoyment of the series, so I plan to spread out my re-reading experience. I started the first one the other night and am happy to be back in Mitford with all those quirky characters!
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