FROM THE HEART OF COVINGTON

Third in Medlicott’s Covington series (The Gardens of Covington, 2001, etc.). Three friends in their 60s, Grace Singleton, Hannah Parrish and Amelia Declose, warehoused in a Pennsylvania boardinghouse, have nothing to look forward to but fading away, when Amelia inherits a rundown farmhouse in Covington, North Carolina, and all three take off for a new life as they rebuild the farm and their talents. Amelia becomes a photographer, Hannah a gardener with her own greenhouse, and Grace—newly wise and confident—becomes a cook and falls in love with courtly Bob. All fight off a developer who wants to upgrade Cove Road, while Amelia is courted by Lance Lundquist. Now Hannah’s rebellious daughter Laura has had a boating accident during a hurricane in Puerto Rico and, gashed, bruised, and with a broken leg, has had her spleen removed. Her lost boat having been her home, she’s flown to Cove Road to live with her mother. Then Harold, Amelia’s cousin and the group’s first friend in Covington, comes down with lung cancer. And Grace’s gay but callow son Roger cheats on his lover Mike, causing great anguish in the house. When Grace throws a big party for all of Cove Road, she sees how young she and her two three friends now look: “No one becomes old until regret takes the place of dreams.”

No surprises here, but fans won’t mind.