Country Wives

July 17, 2006
The second entry in Shaw's Barleybridge series (after A Country Affair
) is a charming account of life in and out of a small English town's veterinary hospital. Newcomer Daniel Brown is a temporary vet with a passion for his craft, but his gruff manner costs the practice an influential client, angering his employers. Dan does have a few fans, though, including Miriam Price, the senior partner's wife, and Kate Howard, a receptionist who aspires to be a vet. Both rightly suspect something unfortunate has happened to Dan in his past, and as he takes Kate along on appointments, pieces of his past come to light. Kate, meanwhile, wants to know more about her mother, who abandoned the family when Kate was born, but she doesn't want to hurt her dad or her stepmom, Mia, who raised her. When a tragedy befalls Kate's family, she gets her wish, for better or worse. Though Shaw creates memorable characters, she goes overboard with one villain. That aside, the action at Barleybridge—from catching an animal abuser to the office politics spurred on by the vets' wives—makes for addictive reading.

September 1, 2006
With the exception of funny Scott, who bowed out rather than make a romantic commitment, readers will find most of the characters from Shaw's " Country Affair" (2005) back at the Barleybridge Veterinary Hospital in Britain. Dan, Scott's replacement, isn't as amiable as his predecessor. In fact, he quickly offends nearly everyone on the staff and loses one of the practice's biggest accounts. The trouble he causes with his ideas and his forthright opinions puts everyone in a tizzy, as clients and staff lobby against him and then take sides against one another. The resulting conflicts, sometimes laughable, sometimes poignant, reveal as much about the rest of the staff as they do about Dan, who, it turns out, has a sensitive side--for both animals and people. Shaw cleverly limns the behaviors of both the people and the animals associated with Barleybridge, creating a genial, old-fashioned, yet still modern tale. A perfect gentle read for latter-day James Herriot fans.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2006, American Library Association.)