The Lost Husband

February 15, 2013
A novel about family, love and forgiveness. Libby, a heroine of this story on many levels, loses her husband in an automobile accident and cannot afford to keep the family house. She sells the house and, having no other choice, moves with her two young children to her mother's condominium. She takes a job as a bank teller and must trust her mother to help her care for the children, which is difficult insofar as her critical mother has never taken much interest in her. After two miserable years with her narcissistic mother, Libby receives an invitation from her mother's estranged sister, Jean (the other heroine of the story), to bring the children and live on her farm near Atwater, Texas. Jean says she is suffering from arthritis and needs help with the chores, but there is another, secret reason she yearns to have Libby, her precocious 7-year-old daughter, Abby, and the little boy, "Tank," come live with her. While driving to Jean's, Libby meets two people who will play an important role in her new life. Heart-rending and heartwarming.

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March 15, 2013
It's a new year, and Libby Moran is starting a new life. Three years ago, she lost her husband in a car accident. Left with an empty savings account and two small children to feed, Libby sold her house and moved in with her critical, passive-aggressive mother. So when Libby receives a letter from her estranged aunt offering an escaperoom, board, and a small salary in exchange for helping around the farmshe grabs it, uprooting her family to the country to milk goats and make cheese. But her new life takes some adjusting to. Her eccentric aunt is harboring a secret, the unkempt farm manager stirs up conflicting feelings, Libby's daughter encounters a problem at school, and the psychic clerk at the feed store is determined to bring back Libby's lost husband. Center writes endearingly of love and family in her fourth novel, with lessons about loss, gain, standing up for oneself, and accepting that your best is good enough. Fans of well-crafted romantic women's fiction won't be disappointed.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)