The Ladies Farm

June 28, 1999
Litman's brisk and chatty first novel promises to celebrate women's friendship, but her characters sometimes seem to care more for jewelry and real estate. The "farm" of the title is a bed-and-breakfast outside Fort Worth, Tex., where three middle-aged women create a folksy spa, offering their guests homemade recipes, quality hair care and a place to escape (and trade gossip about) men. When the widow Barbara takes a room at the Ladies' Farm, both proprietors and guests fear possible upsetting revelations. Managers Kat and Della both had affairs with Barbara's late husband, Richard, and they worry that their liaisons will be unearthed. Owner Pauline, a loyal confidante who records the secrets she hears in her journals, suffers a heart attack after learning that Barbara had an affair with her late husband, Hugh. Once Pauline sees the amethyst Hugh gave Barbara, Pauline is sure it was Barbara he loved. The B&B, meanwhile, faces financial disaster: Pauline's angry son threatens to close down the Farm to build a gravel pit. Della tries to evaluate Richard's feelings for each of the women in his life by taking the diamonds he gave them to be appraised. Later on, good-natured hairdresser Rita gets married. Litman keeps her story upbeat and on track, showing enthusiasm for her ladies even at their most materialistic. This tribute to female friendship tries hard for humor and charm; readers who enjoy the characters' machinations may be reminded of Robert Harling's stage play and film Steel Magnolias. Others may feel that Litman's tale promises more than its shallow characters can deliver.

July 1, 1999
Female friendship overcomes all obstacles in this sweet, sometimes sassy first novel. Pauline, Della, Kat, and Rita, all in their middle years and either widowed or divorced, share responsibilities and residence at the Ladies Farm, a bed-and-breakfast and retreat in small-town Texas. But when Barbara arrives to stay, several of the women are faced with the problem of how to deal with the widow of the man they all loved. Then there is newly revealed information about ownership of the property, compounded when it turns out that the one woman in whom all the others confided wrote everything in her journals, which pass into the hands of her less-than-scrupulous son after her death. The plot twists and turns through a funeral, a wedding, wheeling and dealing, and attempted blackmail as the women of the Ladies Farm (with a little help from their exes) persevere. A touching tribute to the bonds among women and a good bet for popular fiction collections.--Michele Leber, Fairfax Cty. P.L., VA

Copyright 1999 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 1999
Get ready for a real good time, but get out your handkerchiefs. In this funny and tender tale, the four proprietors of Ladies Farm, a small and lovely resort about an hour out of Fort Worth, know who is good at what; they know about compromises and how to keep the peace. They have found home and family in each other, as manicures and facials get done, pottery and writing workshops happen, and they make sure rooms get cleaned and lunch gets served. Della is still grieving for her dead lover Richard, whose wife, Barbara, suddenly appears with two bombshells: she owns half of Ladies Farm, and she's come to stay. When Pauline, everyone's rock and confidante, dies suddenly, chaos ensues: Who owns what? And who will take care of whom? And just how many of the Ladies did Richard love, anyway? Never-healed hurts and the importance of hair, good men and bad boys, the meaning of work and the meaning of meaning--it's all here along with raucous laughter and more than one good cry. ((Reviewed August 1999))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1999, American Library Association.)