A Haven on Orchard Lane

Charlotte Ward, a once-famous actress of the Victorian era, is given an opportunity to return to the London stage and escape a sequestered life with her manipulative husband, Lord Fosberry. But instead of giving a triumphant performance, Charlotte ends up in the hospital after succumbing to a fit of nerves. Rosalind Kent, Charlotte’s estranged daughter, offers to take care of her mother after a friend persuades her to let bygones be bygones. Charlotte agrees and they rent a cottage in Port Stilwell, hoping to avoid intrusive tabloid reporters and the clutches of Lord Fosberry. The two main characters are given little to do as they lay low, but the secondary characters are intriguing: Jude Pearce, a bookstore owner, is mourning the death of his grandfather and recovering from the departure of the woman he loves; Danny and Albert Fletcher are rambunctious brothers looking to get away from their hostile stepmother; and Mrs. Deamer, Charlotte and Rosalind’s housekeeper, has been forced into a life of service. The novel is unevenly paced and struggles to convey the complexities of Charlotte and Rosalind’s fraught circumstances. Despite this, Blackwell (The Widow of Larkspur Inn) deals well with abandonment and forgiveness. (June)