Bad Girl Creek: A Novel (Wheeler Compass)

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful and touching
Review: This novel was a real treat. As previously summarized, four very different women come together on Phoebe DeThomas's newly inherited flower farm and form bonds of love and friendship. Mapson has a talent for describing the scenery and atmosphere of all her novels, and this book is no exception. I had images of the flower farm and California dancing in my head as I read this book. The grit and disabilities of Phoebe DeThomas makes her a warm and atypical heroine, and her relationship with the UPS man funny and rewarding for a woman who has not previously "known" men. I was also engrossed in Phoebe's relationship with her brother, who in the beginning of the novel seemed like an simple opportunist, but later became three-dimensional and more understandable. The three woman in the novel who end up on Phoebe's doorstep are multi-dimensional, and not without heartache and problems, but develop strength from each other and their own inner selves. The interesting backdrop for this novel, the flower farm, is apropos as Phoebe herself begins to bloom. In summary, this is a warm novel not to missed.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful
Review: This was truly a fantastic read. In the beginning of the book wheelchair bound Phoebe is willed a failing flower farm by her flamboyant Aunt Sadie. In order to keep from loosing the farm she so dearly loves she takes on 3 female roomates who in addition to paying rent agree to do four hours of farmwork per day. Each woman has had a patch of bad luck that brings her to the farm and in the span of 1 year we hear each of their stories. The women become friends and learn a fair amount about themselves and farming via the gardening journals Sadie has left behind. It was a beautiful story of female friendships. My only complaint is that it had to end... I could go on reading about Phoebe, Ness, Nance & Beryl forever.